Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

I spied this critically acclaimed novel at a book sale one afternoon and thought I would give it a go.

Previous reviews suggest that Hilary Mantel’s writing eradicates all the doom and gloom associated with history classrooms when the name Thomas Cromwell is announced, and the book sucks you into a Tudor time-tunnel.

My advice to you is however, don’t read this book in bed -it’ll suck you into a sleep coma that hours later you will wake up from, with still 400 pages to get through.

On the whole I wouldn’t say that I disliked Wolf Hall. It’s just initially very dense. 

The writing has some flashy brilliance. It’s full of meaty characterisations, swishy fabric descriptions and the occasional horrific end for an unfortunate heretic. 

These sections help to add juice to a dry and tired out period of British history, but it just takes so so long for anything to happen.

Or in fact, things do happen you just have to return to the modern world of the internet and take a refresher course in history on Wikipedia. Meanwhile Mantel places her characters around another dining table, exchanging subliminal banter and sly looks.

Also if you are a fan of dialogue you will love this book, but try to keep up. 

Mantel rarely refers to Cromwell as Cromwell but instead she uses confusing third person narrative of “he”, and when “he” says something in a room full of five other males you may find back-tracking pages and playing a very frustrating game of “Cromwell Says”.

I did learn things from its 650 pages. There is a sensational account of the barbarities carried out during the 1527 Sack of Rome, and Mantel gives a voice to the pitiful case of Elizabeth Barton, a Catholic nun who was executed for her prophecies against King Henry VIII.

Wolf Hall is the first part of a trilogy so I gather that Hilary Mantel is very much a fan of Thomas Cromwell. However I wonder how much of it could have been taken back to the cutting room and how much of it was the result of self-indulgence.