Wolf Hall

There is no denying the achievement here, recreating an era nearly 500 years ago, through the eyes of one man at the centre of the maelstrom. Imaginary conversations and made up encounters all based on history and woven together into a tapestry of fact and fiction. It is really quite remarkable, as the central “character” Thomas Cromwell navigates the politics and interpersonal mean-spirited-ness of the court of Henry VIII, enduring personal tragedy and loss along the way. My reservation about this book is that I admired and was impressed by it more than I enjoyed it. Some of the detailed descriptions and conversations were there more for verisimilitude than to advance the telling of the story and I often went from being enthralled to being bored in the space of ten pages. I can understand why this won awards, but maybe I'm not a serious enough history buff to enjoy it as much as others clearly have. I don't think I'll be reading the other two books.