BIBLIOPHILE NOTES FOR THE MARCH ARTS MARATHON

Page 25 – Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate in 2009
Winner of The Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award

Every time I open Wolf Hall I get this wonderful rush of anticipation. From the first page you are totally immersed in the world of Thomas Cromwell, almost as though you are inside him, living his life and thinking his thoughts. I think this was the genius of Hilary Mantel, that she could bring you to a place where you actually love the character telling the story, and who could have predicted, from looking at his stern portrait by Hans Holbein, that we would learn to love Thomas Cromwell!

The first part is about the brutal treatment the young Thomas receives from his father, Walter Cromwell, an infamously rough publican and blacksmith in Stepney. In the words of Thomas’s brother-in-law, Morgan, “if he’s not watering his ale, he’s running illegal beasts on the common, if he’s not despoiling the common he’s assaulting an officer of the peace, if he’s not drunk he’s dead drunk”. Thomas decides he must leave London before his father finishes him off and decides to go abroad. We get an early insight into his intelligence when, much to Morgan’s surprise, Thomas takes his leave of him in the fluent Welsh he has soaked up, but at the same time there are hints of a rough side to him when he wonders whether he has been responsible for someone dying in a recent fight.

We rejoin the story with Cromwell in service to Cardinal Wolsey, to whom he bears a lifelong loyalty, and the beginnings of his connection with King Henry. His inner thoughts reveal a shrewd assessment of both men, which will continue throughout the story, as his service to Wolsey ends and he becomes the King’s man. We find out more about Cromwell’s life in Europe, the harsh life of a soldier which he abandoned when he saw the frescoes of Florence to become an accomplished trader and lawyer. During his years abroad he learned more languages and back in London we catch a view of his sense of humour as he remembers that “in Castilian he can insult people”.

I love the intimate way his marriage to Lizzie is portrayed. It is in their private conversations and his quiet moments of reflection where we gain an inner view of his character as a fond husband and father to son Gregory and daughters Anne and “little Grace”. We also gain insight into his religious beliefs, as he has a copy of Tyndale’s New Testament in a locked chest. It is Lizzie who enlightens him about the mood among the people about the King’s intention to seek the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, who has failed to provide him with a son.

Cromwell’s rise to the most powerful position in the land is told in his voice. Throughout the book, he is referred to in the third person as “he”, not “Cromwell”. It is his account and his alone. If you enjoy this volume, happily there are two more in the series, “Bring Up the Bodies” and “The Mirror and the Light”, which complete his story. I am so grateful to Hilary Mantel for the years she invested in bringing Cromwell’s story to life and she is sorely missed.