Waking up at 6am (by mistake - thank you sunshine and thin curtains) suddenly became a blessing, I was able to heft this tomb from my bedside table and read for an hour and a half before getting ready for work. I even read it on the train (crushed, at rush hour), but oh how much I adored reading it. It was worth all the tired mornings and the hand/arm aches, because this book is truly a tremendous, epic history of one man's journey to power.
Thomas Cromwell is a man we all know from our primary school history lessons. He was that guy who made the Church of England and helped Henry VIII get rid of his boring, old wife Katherine and get a new exciting one, Anne Boleyn. Now, check all of your school girl/guy history buff knowledge at the door. While the Tudor period of English history is one of the most exciting and baffling reigns you are allowed to study in school, we all remember the rhyme: Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. And if you have seen this episode of QI, you will know that the number of true wives Henry VIII had is still under debate - do you count the divorces, is his marriage to Anne a true one and on and on and on... For Hilary Mantel (and many other historical novelists) this is a period with such incredible richness it would almost be unkind not to dive right in.
Now, Thomas Cromwell, is a man we are taught well to hate, but as with Mantel's other fabulous novels, she takes an "evil" character and makes him human. I read Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety at university and sat for three days reading non-stop - it was truly a glorious book - and somehow I found myself close to tears when the inevitable happens. It is just the same here (though Mantel has cleverly eked it out to a trilogy - the publishing version of a hat trick) Cromwell is always cast as the villain and yet I found myself understanding him and his own actions.
The novel begins with Cromwell as a young boy, being beaten by his father in Putney, swiftly we are moved through the years and are now faced with a protagonist with a murky history who happens to work for Cardinal Wolsey. Here is another "evil" man were are told to hate from history, and yet we see him as Cromwell does: Yes, he is out for power, yes, he does believe himself to be the centre of the universe and yes, he's made some errors, but he was also a very nice to his servants. (Don't worry, dear reader if you fear I will launch into a History Boys-esque 'Hilter was a sweetie' essay - this is not that kind of review.) Then we see the fall of Wolsey and somehow begin to see that while Cromwell is Wolsey's man he is still moving up the ranks in court. When did a brewer's/blacksmith's son ever become a king's confident, the highest courtier and the most powerful man in England? The answer to all your questions rest within the pages of this book.
So, without giving too much away here is what I thought:
There are so many people called Thomas in this book, thankfully many of them are referred to by their last name - keeps things simple.
Mantel has written this book in a present tense style that can sometimes feel quite confusing as 'he' is normally Cromwell, but can also be any number of other male characters Cromwell happens to be in the same room with or thinking about.
Anne is exactly as I wanted her to be, a cruel malicious woman who has managed to scheme her way to the top and once there, can hope only to deliver an heir to the throne, or risk losing everything she fought so hard to achieve. I also loved Mary Carey (that's Anne's sister), while we have all learnt to pity and love her in Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl, she felt fresh and interesting.
Cromwell's character is so complex, you find yourself wondering constantly about the moments in his past (his secrets) that even the reader doesn't know about.
Also, there is a delicious peek at what is to come, with Jane Seymour growing up, while Anne is on the rise.
In total, this is a book anyone who loves/likes to read will love. It is elegantly written, compelling and rich in fantastic characters from a period we all have some knowledge of. As Mantel's follow-up is out now, Bring Up The Bodies, this is the perfect time to get into the series. A refreshing take on a much loved period of history, that is just as unputdownable as you could imagine.
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