Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
15 Rating(s)
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Wolf Hall
A Novel

Author: Hilary Mantel

Narrator: Simon Slater

Unabridged: 23 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2009

Synopsis

WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel's New York Times bestselling Wolf Hall is "a darkly brilliant reimagining of life under Henry VIII. . . . Magnificent." (The Boston Globe).

The basis for the TV series on BBC and PBS Masterpiece starring Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell.

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 opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

About Hilary Mantel

English author, Dame Hilary Mary Mantel, was born in Glossop, Derbyshire in 1952. She attended St. Charles Roman Catholic primary school in the mill village of Hadfield. Her parents were actually Irish descent, but were born in England. Mantel's father divorced her mother and left when she was eleven years old. She never saw him again. Her mother did not marry, but spent her life with Jack Mantel, from whom Hilary took his name as her surname. Her schooling ended with a bachelor's degree in Jurisprudence in 1973. She then worked in social work in a geriatric hospital.

Her books include historical fiction, including a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell's rise to power under King Henry VIII. They were Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror and the Light (which was just released in the UK in March of 2020). She twice won the Booker Award.

In keeping with her unconventional life, Hilary married Gerald McEwen, a geologist in 1972, and they lived in exotic places such as Botswana and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They were divorced after he gave up geology to be her business manager, but then remarried.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Saundra foderick on 2017-11-30 23:59:01

Enjoyed Mantel's Bring up the Bodies and Wolf Hall, so expected to like this as well. Problem is, the reader has one simpering high voice for all female characters, a French accent for Eustace Chapuys that reminds the reader of comic book French characters (think Peppy LePeau), and other oddities. So, I cannot give a high rating to an otherwise enjoyable book.

Goodreads review by Paul on February 10, 2013

For the first 100 pages I was like a Monkees song, you know the one - [Cue cute organ/guitar intro] I thought great historical novels about the 16th century were only true in fairy tales Meant for someone else but not for me Mmm, historical novelists were out to get me That's the way it seemed Disappointm......more

Goodreads review by Will on March 30, 2023

The fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms. Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. This is how the world changes: a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase, a woman’s sigh as she passes and leaves on t......more

Goodreads review by Bionic Jean on November 06, 2024

Everyone knows about the Tudors. Even people not particularly interested in history know the bare bones of the story, and people world-wide all seem to have heard about Henry VIII. I suspect it is one of the most popular periods to study in English history with its cast of colourful characters, intr......more

Goodreads review by Riku on February 14, 2014

I treat this novel as a qualified failure of an experiment (qualified since I am open to the possibility that the failure was mine) and I sincerely wish that Mantel does not win the Booker this year - I just cannot bring myself to spend anymore time with her lifeless narrator. More than anything else......more

Goodreads review by Sean Barrs on May 02, 2020

Hilary Mantel sure knows how to write; her prose is eloquent and sophisticated. Stylistically speaking, she is very distinctive. Very few writers wield grammar the way she does; she uses every means of punctuation at her disposal to achieve real effectual writing. At some points her writing is simpl......more

Quotes

“The 2009 Man Booker Prize-winning novel about Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's fixer and counselor has been brilliantly served by English actor (and composer) Simon Slater. He gives an ironic, Machiavellian edge to his voice as general narrator and renders the myriad characters with exceptional virtuosity. This performance is the best of the year: an absolute triumph, further enhancing an already magnificent novel.” —The Washington Post, Top Audio Books of '09

“Set aside a full day to savor Simon Slater's delightful reading of the Booker Prize-winning tale of Henry VIII's court, seen through the eyes of his adviser Thomas Cromwell…Slater's narration is nuanced and precise; he breathes feeling and subtle shades of emotion into every exchange of dialogue. His is a heroic undertaking, and he does admirable justice to Mantel's lucid prose and juicy plot.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Slater seems to inhabit Cromwell's very soul, his voice imbued with urbane assurance, dark despair, calculating ambition, and sardonic wit. Each character rings true…Mantel's masterpiece, winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, 2009, entrances with a gripping immediacy that carries listeners to a cliff-hanger ending, leaving fans clamoring for a sequel.” —Booklist, Starred Review

“Simon Slater's inspired narration of this year's Booker Prize novel, set in the court of Henry VIII, is on every count one of this year's outstanding audiobooks.” —AudioFile, Earphones Award Winner

“Read by Simon Slater in possibly the best performance of his career, Wolf Hall...never ceases to be gripping...the best audio book of the year.” —The Winston-Salem Journal

“Simon Slater does a masterful job of capturing Mantel's abundant and diverse characters.” —Newsday

“Simon Slater's reading is equal to Mantel's masterpiece, his voice shifting to match each speaker, with touches of rough British dialect, German and French accents expertly handled.” —BookPage, Audio of the Month

“Simon Slater's performance brings Thomas Cromwell out of history and into humanity.” —FictionAudiobooks

“If you haven't read the most absorbing, beautifully written book of 2009, wait no longer. Better yet, listen to it, for you cannot imagine the 16th century coming to life as it does in the hands of author Hilary Mantel and reader Simon Slater in Wolf Hall.” —Newark Star Ledger

“Mantel gets the rich pageantry and conniving schemes just right in her richly detailed historical saga, and Slater gets Mantel just right as well. His reading does justice to the novel's language, slipping into character voices as deftly as Cromwell negotiated court politics.” —Library Journal

“Listeners unfamiliar with British history will find Slater's present-tense narration, as told through Cromwell's perspective, an ideal method of storytelling, turning formidable historical figures into intriguing personalities. Slater seems to inhabit Cromwell's very soul, his voice imbued with urbane assurance, dark despair, calculating ambition, and sardonic wit.” —Booklist, Starred Review

Awards

  • Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Winner
  • Man Booker Award - Winner
  • Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction - Nominee
  • Audie Award Winner
  • National Book Critics Circle Award - Winner
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