Wolf Hall
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3.8 • 77 Ratings
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION
In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel's New York Times bestselling Wolf Hall is "a darkly brilliant reimagining of life under Henry VIII. . . . Magnificent." (The Boston Globe).
The basis for the TV series on BBC and PBS Masterpiece starring Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell.
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Hilary Mantel shot to the top of everyone’s reading list in 2009 with her vivid reimagining of Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to Henry VIII. A masterpiece of historical fiction, Wolf Hall went on to win the prestigious Man Booker Prize and also inspired an addictive TV miniseries. Mantel’s beautiful and surprisingly modern prose brings Tudor England to life with gorgeous period detail and palpable suspense. The talented author creates a real sense of urgency by narrating the story through Cromwell’s eyes, offering flashbacks to his painful past. With award-winning narration from British actor Simon Slater, the audiobook is a transportive experience, pulling listeners into the extraordinary life of a powerful and tragic figure.
Customer Reviews
Amazing but flawed recording
Repeats itself in about four or five places—but keep in mind it’s 23 hours of book. The narrator is a delightful voice actor who takes the time to change or adjust their voice to help differentiate the different characters. You constantly feel like you’re on Cromwell’s elbow, watching and learning
A Masterpiece That Breathes Life Into Tudor England
From the moment I opened "Wolf Hall," I was no longer in my living room but walking the torch-lit corridors of Hampton Court alongside Thomas Cromwell. For the entire week I spent with Mantel's trilogy, I lived and breathed Tudor England with an immediacy that felt almost supernatural.
Mantel's prose doesn't merely describe history—it resurrects it. The political machinations of Henry VIII's court, the dangerous religious reforms, and the high-stakes personal dramas unfold with such visceral detail that you can practically smell the herb-strewn floors and feel the weight of velvet robes. Her Thomas Cromwell—brilliant, pragmatic, wounded—becomes a lens through which we view this treacherous world with surprising intimacy.
What sets this trilogy apart is how thoroughly it dismantles our cardboard cutout understanding of historical figures. Anne Boleyn emerges not as a simple temptress but as a complex strategist. Thomas More sheds his saintly image to reveal a man of stubborn conviction and cruelty. Even Henry himself transcends caricature, revealing layers of insecurity beneath his bombast.
The trilogy builds with devastating momentum toward its inevitable conclusion, yet even knowing the history couldn't prepare me for the emotional impact of Cromwell's fall. Throughout my reading, I felt privileged to inhabit Mantel's meticulously crafted world—a world that continues to haunt me long after turning the final page.
Simply put, this is historical fiction at its absolute finest—a once-in-a-generation achievement that forever raises the bar for the genre.
Defective audio
Skipping audio, repeated phrases. It’s defective.