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| Thomas Cromwell, chancellor of Henry VIII (Photo credit: lisby1) |
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 oppose him. The quest for the petulant king’s
freedom destroys his advisor, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey and leaves a power
vacuum and a deadlock.
Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell the son of a
blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a bully and a charmer. Cromwell has
broken all the rules of a rigid society in his rise to power and is prepared to
break some more as he picks his way deftly through a court where ‘man is wolf
to man’. Pitting himself against parliament, the political establishment and
the papacy he is prepared to reshape England to his own and Henry’s desires.
Mantel ‘s approach I found interesting as she delves into
the thought processes of Cromwell as he copes with court intrigues, political manoeuvring
and also personal disasters. We see through his eyes what life may have been
like in Henry’s reign and also his thoughts about the part he played, his plans
and schemes and his views on the historical figures of the time. I particularly
liked his take on Anne Boleyn, who she was as person/character.
So it’s a large book and easy to read. If you are interested
in history, politics and how life was lived in the time of Henry VIII this book
is for you.
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