Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Readers’ Guides

2010 Winner Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel Fourth Estate

About the author

Hilary Mantel is the two-time winner of million copies worldwide. She is the the Man Booker Prize for her best-selling author of fourteen books, including A novels, Wolf Hall, and its sequel, Bring Place of Greater Safety, Beyond Black, Up the Bodies. Wolf Hall has been and the memoir Giving Up the Ghost. In translated into 36 languages, Bring Up 2014 she was appointed DBE. The final the Bodies into 31 languages, and sales part in the trilogy The Mirror and Light for both books have reached over 5 will be published in March 2020.

About the book widely regarded as the unprincipled and Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall tells the story of power-hungry opportunist whose Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, of the influence on Henry VIII contributed to the execution of Thomas More and the worst excesses of Tudor England. But English Reformation, all from a new Mantel gives Cromwell a chance to tell vantage point—through the eyes of the his side of the story, from his humble man traditionally considered its villain. beginnings at the hands of a drunk and For centuries Thomas Cromwell has been abusive father, to his unprecedented rise, becoming the closest advisor to Henry VIII. As Reformation spreads on the What do love and loyalty mean for Continent, Henry suddenly finds himself Cromwell? at odds with the Catholic Church he had once so vigorously defended. Henry is Why is it meant as an insult when Norfolk without a male heir, and, the Tudor line calls Cromwell a “person?” What is it imperiled, has pressed his advisor about Cromwell that frustrates members Cardinal Wolsey to lobby the Pope for an of the nobility so much? Why were annulment of his twenty-year marriage. Wolsey and Henry able to appreciate Wolsey’s failure and subsequent downfall Cromwell’s talents when everyone else suddenly places Cromwell in a unique merely saw him as an impudent position of influence with the king. As schemer? Cromwell rises in Henry’s esteem, he begins to turn Henry away from the idea What is it that makes Cromwell resolve to of annulment in favor of a more radical be gentle and mild with his children? solution—a complete break with Rome. What gave him the will and the But accomplishing such a task is a confidence to become a different man daunting political feat, and while Henry than his father? and Anne Boleyn both wait impatiently to bring about a legal union, Cromwell must What kind of a character is Thomas More plot against his enemies and prepare the in this novel? Does he come off as country for a fundamental transformation sympathetic in any way? Why does More in religious identity. choose to die rather than accept breaking away from the Catholic Church? What the judges thought Would Cromwell be willing to die for his beliefs? “For once, you can believe the hype. This is as good as the historical novel gets – What is the significance to Cromwell of immersive, constantly seeing the woman burned at the stake as engaging, beautifully crafted, and a child? How could an event such as this compulsively readable. Choose any have influenced Cromwell in his later superlative: it will fail this book. Mantel’s attitudes towards Reformation? Does empathy for, and assimilation of, her Cromwell have any specific religious world is so seamless and effortless as to convictions? Or is he more driven by be almost disturbing. Each book on the convictions of common decency and shortlist is deserving of the prize, but personal loyalty? Wolf Hall was for us the outright winner, in a class of its own.” What kind of a king is Henry VIII in this novel? What motivates him? Are his preoccupations solely self-interested, or Discussion Questions does he have the good of the country in mind as well? What is it that makes him What is the significance of Mantel’s so susceptible to Anne Boleyn’s “occult” history of Britain? How might seductions? these legendary traditions have influenced Henry in choosing to marry In conjuring Cromwell on the page, what Anne Boleyn? What role does legend does Mantel create, and what does she play in the perpetuation of a monarchy? re-create from this historical record? Along those lines, how does historical Why was Cromwell so attached to fiction influence the way we look at Cardinal Wolsey? Was Wolsey more of a history? mentor or a father-figure for Cromwell? What is it that makes Cromwell so driven? villainy to him?Later in the novel we see Does his ambition stem from a desire to Cromwell come to the realization that his do good, or is it just a survival instinct home now is either where there’s based on his past? How is Cromwell both business to be done, or with the king. personally ambitious and yet generous How is this a personal transformation for and unselfish? him, considering what life was like when his wife and daughters were alive? In the Is Cromwell attempting to realize any lively Austin Friars, full of extended family particular political vision for the country, and wards and guests, Cromwell seemed or is he just reacting to the situation at the consummate family man. Why did he hand? Does he strive to bring about a change? Is there something sad about more egalitarian society, or is it more a this change in him? matter of being unconsciously influenced by his experiences as a commoner? Did Cromwell truly want to spare More from being executed? Did he do What is the significance of Guido everything he could to save him? What Camillo’s “memory machine?” Why is made More so inflexible? Was it related Cromwell interested in it? Does he see it to his desire to always live life in the as some sort of potential weapon, or is he public eye? driven by a desire for knowledge? As the novel ends and Cromwell is at the Is there something tragic about the fate height of his power, is there anything in of Elizabeth Barton the prophetess? Was his actions that foreshadow his later she merely deceived by the monks, or downfall? Has he become too much like was there something cynical about her? Wolsey? Would the mercurial Henry VIII Did it seem that she ever believed in her have been likely sooner or later to turn visions? If she had not been exploited for on Cromwell anyway? political gain, might she have made a genuine contribution to spiritual life at (Questions supplied by publisher) the time? Or was she simply a fraud? Further resources What is the source of Cromwell’s antipathy for More? What is it about More The World of Wolf Hall: A Reading guide that outrages him? Is there something to Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring up personal in it for Cromwell, or does More the Bodies – available free in bookshops simply represent a particular type of and online