|
|
Article: Leader of the Pack in the Wolf's Den
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 13, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
WOLF HALL
By Hilary Mantel
Henry Holt. 532 pp. $27 Henry VIII's quest to make Anne Boleyn
his queen has inspired reams of historical fiction, much of it
trashy and most of it trite. Yet from this seemingly shopworn
material, Hilary Mantel has created a novel both fresh and finely
wrought: a brilliant portrait of a society in the throes of
disorienting change, anchored by a penetrating character study of
Henry's formidable adviser, Thomas Cromwell. It's no wonder that her
masterful book won the Man Booker Prize last week.
Mantel's choice of protagonist signals her intelligence and
artistic ambition. Cromwell was the quintessential 16th-century New
Man, the son of a blacksmith who rose ...