Wolf Hall -

Hilary Mantel

Fourth Estate

2010

674 páginas

22h 28m

ISBN-13: 9780007230204

'Lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning,' says Thomas More, 'and when you come back that night he'll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks' tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money.'

England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor.

Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

From one of our finest living writers, 'Wolf Hall' is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion, suffering and courage.

Resenhas (2)

3 (Bom)

You can empathize with Thomas Cromwell?

In slow, detailed steps, "Wolf Hall" tells the story of life and historical events in which the statesman is involved. It is a very well written and historically based book, with the intention of demystifying a figure normally treated negatively in the various books and films about the Tudor period, telling the other side of the story. But the author is not entirely successful, at least at the beginning of the trilogy - at first I thought that the book would focus on the suffering childhood of the historical character, towards the social ascension in the court of Henry VIII, but only one chapter briefly tells the childhood of the protagonist - the author tries to make the reader empathize with Cromwel through his family relationships and his relationship with Cardinal Wolsey (* in general I managed to like this other historical character in this book, much more than the protagonist *), showing it in a very condescending way; the problem is that the author does not treat the character considering its contradictions and is quite severe with other characters that are normally immensely empathetic to us (* Ana Bolena and Thomas More *). Hilary Mantel should treat all characters considering their complexities, without "wiping" one of them. So much historical research to put Ana Boleyn almost like Salome practically asking for More's head on a tray?