As predicted, Hilary Mantel’s historical novel Wolf Hall won Britain’s prestigious Man Booker Prize, it was announced today at an awards dinner in London. The book, which will be published in the U.S. on Oct. 13 by Henry Holt, is a sympathetic portrait of Henry VIII’s chief minister Thomas Cromwell, a Tudor-era figure who is often portrayed as less than heroic (most notably in Robert Bolt’s 1961 play about Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons). “Hilary Mantel has given us a thoroughly modern novel set in the 16th century,” said James Naughtie, chair of the judges for the Man Booker. “Wolf Hall has a vast narrative sweep that gleams on every page with luminous and mesmerising detail.” Mantel, a first-time Man Booker winner, collects £50,000 for the prize, along with the promise of a major sales boost. She reportedly spent five years writing the novel, and is now at work on a sequel. The only downside for Mantel: Adaptation of her book as a Showtime series seems highly unlikely.
It's Tudor chic: Hilary Mantel's 'Wolf Hall' wins the Man Booker Prize
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Comments (1-4) of 4 Add your comment
Thomas Cromwell = Legend. You gotta win the prize with this man as your centerpiece.
Wow, another wonderfully historically inaccurate novel. Right on par with the fictitous The Other Boleyn Girl.
Mary Boleyn was a not an innocent victom as Phileppa Gregory wrote. She was a slut given the name The English Mare by Francis I of France because she was his mistress. She was kicked out of France because of her many affairs.
Thomas Cromwell was worse. He was the main force that had Anne Boleyn executed. He whispered into Henry VIII’s ear about her alleged affairs (it is generally accepted that the charges were trumped). After his own execution, it was found among his possessions a letter Anne wrote the Henry pleading her innocence. It is likely Cromwell never even delivered the letter to Henry to keep the king from being persuaded of her innocence.
Truth is Cromwell saw Anne Boleyn as a threat so he made sure Henry lost faith in her. It is a shame that someone has stooped so low as to cast him as a sympathetic hero. It is like making Hitler the hero of WWII.
I’ve read mixed reviews of Wolf Hall over at AmazonUK and have been looking forward to reading it for a while now. Congrats to Mantel on the prize!
It’s nothing like making Hitler the hero of WWII. Thomas Cromwell was a political genius, who rose from a low birth to become Henry’s chief adviser, and ultimately paid with his life. Cromwell channelled the growing social and political unease towards Anne Boleyn for his own ends, but ultimately Henry made his own decisions. Cromwell orchestrated the break with Rome and a move towards Protestantism in England, with the monarch at the head of the Church. Yes, he was a ruthless man, as demonstrated with the dissolution of the monasteries, but he should be seen as a product of his times, and understood not through a 21st century lens but as a driving force in the era in which he lived.