Sophia C. reviewed on 4/30/2013 + 289 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Those familiar enough with Tudor history to know that Wolf Hall is the familial home of the Seymour family would likely find it odd that this Man Booker Prize-winning novel focuses on Thomas Cromwells rise to power. Starting with a brief look at the moment in his youth when he left England, we meet Cromwell again in the service of Cardinal Wolsey. Hilary Mantel portrays Cromwell as a practical, business-minded problem solver, and its easy to see how these qualities would help him advance, but it was not apparent how this was happening. I can see how some would find the authors style fragmented and hard to read. He, Cromwell is an awkward construction of many sentences. Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed this rare historical novel not focused on love vs. duty or convention and look forward to the rest of the planned trilogy that humanizes this historical figure.

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