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Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)

Hilary Mantel

Start date: August 16, 2015

Finish date: September 15, 2015

Discussion: Group Reads Discussions

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What Members Thought

Jun 05, 2023 Elizabeth added it · review of another edition

Shelves: england, historicalnovels, 1500s

When this book came out nearly 10 years ago I really wanted to read it but the sheer size of the book intimidated me as was dealing with a lot of other time commitments. Yay! I finally I had the time to submerge myself in this velvet-gloved world of Thomas Cromwell; a man of many legal machinations. For me, the author seemed to grope about in the dark a bit as she tried to capture his character. But I find that common in many historical novels and it didn't bother me. I very much enjoyed it, alt ...more

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Jan 20, 2014 Anie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, own, female-author, male-protagonist, 2016

Sometimes books win the Man Booker and I gnash my teeth and cannot figure out why. And sometimes, books are Wolf Hall.

Mantel is a wordsmith of the first order. The prose is careful, precise, and it exacts your complete attention. I found myself marking pages constantly because of a line or turn of phrase that made me sit back and breathe out. Her way of setting discussion of Cromwell, his dialogue and thoughts, apart from the rest of the story is both plain and just plain inventive; I can't reme ...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: british-literature, popular-fiction

I knew there was a lot of buzz about this book, but I wasn't dying to read it. Henry VIII is always an intriguing character and I felt a little oversaturated with that whole story. However I was inspired to finally pick this up because of the mini-series (which is waiting patiently on my DVR) and I am so glad I did. While this is a story that most of us all know, it is told from the fresh perspective of Thomas Cromwell and it is incredibly well written. Sometimes Cromwell is made out to be a vil ...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Madeleine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series

I don't know that this was quite "the most gripping book I'll ever read" (per the Times quote on the front cover). It did, however, entertain me for one airplane flight, one 11 hour train ride through three countries, one 13 hour bus ride, one day of wonderfully luxurious (by comparison) Italian train travel, and one day of even more wonderful Swiss train travel. So I guess it was at least a little gripping.

It also familiarized me with some very basic plot points re Reformation-era British royal ...more

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