Wolf Hall

By: Hilary Mantel

Narrated by: Simon Slater

Length: 24 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII's court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king's favor and ascend to the heights of political powerEngland 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. The quest for the king's freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, 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? In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage.

With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2009 Hilary Mantel (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Too many characters to follow

Where does Wolf Hall rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I liked it but....

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Ah too bad it's over but what exactly was I listening too

Have you listened to any of Simon Slater’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I think so. His voice was neat

Who was the most memorable character of Wolf Hall and why?

The is the point since there were so many. The characters seemed scrabbled

Any additional comments?

Maybe if the author had set the tone much closer to the bone and then from tim to time come in deeply with the characters talking it would have been better. Mind you I didn't dislike it,but.....left a bit to be desired

unraveling the thomases

this was then best attempt yet to straighten out the tangle that is the court of Henry VIII.

Pure Genius

Yes, it is long, yes it is literary and intelligent, so if that's what you like, you will love this AND the narrator who uses his voice not to dramatize, but to bring out character, and help immerse you in a setting that couldn't be more human and at the same more different than our own lives. I would listen to many, many more hours of Hilary Mantel's brilliant writing and Simon Slater's deft characterizations. I recommend listening to it 3 times, each time you will appreciate more.

Great book

Loved this book but wished I had the family tree and list of characters you get in a hard copy book. If you can get a hold of this as reference I would recommend it. Otherwise I very much enjoyed this book and have recommended it to many.

Interesting history made personal and memorable

What did you love best about Wolf Hall?

This was a turning point in English history, and in fact in the history of Christianity. Mantel makes the character personal and makes Cromwell likeable, which one would not expect from other history texts. I recommend this book strongly.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cromwell. It is his story.

If you could rename Wolf Hall, what would you call it?

Cromwell, the man behind the legend.

New perspective for me on this story

Great writing, excellent narration. Highly recommended if you like a long book. One two three

Amazing

5 stars all around. Narrator was wonderful. I’ve listened to this at least 5 times.

Don't Give Up

I recently finished this audiobook. As many of the reviewers have noted, this is not an easy book and requires some attention, especially in the beginning. But I found that by persistence I was able to learn the characters (the reader's voice was very helpful in this regard) and was able to follow the action fairly easily. It does give a unique slant to Thomas Cromwell, usually portrayed as a man of pure evil. The author feels that Cromwell was essential to the making of England as a modern state and also, that he had a human side. She reverses the roles of Cromwell as the man of principle and Thomas More as the man who abused the power of the state to kill his enemies (those who wanted to translate the Bible into English and other Protestant activities.) It was a fascinating book. The reader is excellent throughout, up there with the top 2 or 3 I have heard.

Hillary Mantel reigns over the Tudors

If you could sum up Wolf Hall in three words, what would they be?

I think what this book offers is too rich to summarize in three words. I read this book when it was first published and recently again in preparation for the BBC series based on it now showing through PBS. Hillary Mantel channels Cromwell...we enter the world of the Tudors as an extremely bright and talented son of a blacksmith who manages to climb to the highest spheres of power in a world where social mobility was not even a concept..so there is no doubt of the fact that Cromwell must have been an exceptional man although this is a fictionalized account of Tudor life through his eyes. Many have said that they were confused by the first person narration...I did not find it particularly disturbing.

What other book might you compare Wolf Hall to and why?

The furor over Wolf Hall is justified probably because it is quite different from everything else out there. This is even different that other works by Hillary Mandel (who is one of my favorite writers). The only book that I can compare it to is its sequel, "Bring up the Bodies" which is just as good and some think better. Hillary Mantel seems to take specific snippets of history which are known to have happened (perhaps that on such and such a day Cromwell and Henry were seen chatting by a specific window at such and such a castle) and weave a tight net of dialogue and action to fill the spaces around it and spring from it.

Have you listened to any of Simon Slater’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This narration was very good although Simon Vance was superior as the narrator of "Bring up the Bodies"

Who was the most memorable character of Wolf Hall and why?

All the characters here, Mary and Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, King Henry, Cardinal Wolsey, are presented by the writer as fully formed, difficult to forget individuals. Of course, Cromwell is the most memorable by far. I found Henry Tudor somewhat elusive in Wolf Hall...but he is developed further in Bring up the Bodies.

Any additional comments?

This is required reading for all fans of Tudor fiction. If you are going to watch the television series you do not necessarily have to read the book...but you will enjoy watching the characters jump from page to screen. This may be one of my favorite reads of all times.

I can't stop listening to this book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, and I have. Hilary Mantel builds a world the reader/listener can live in and learn about. Not just the story but all the details about life in Tudor England and the inner thoughts of Cromwell, with his own insecurities and development. And Simon Slater brings it all to life.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Wolf Hall?

So many to choose from. One of my favorites: Harking back to a moment when his son Gregory reminisced about something from his childhood (a pageant, a giant who said, "I am a giant, my name is Marlinspike"), Cromwell brings home a kitten, holds it out to his son, and says, "Look, Gregory. I am a giant, my name is Marlinspike." Gregory looks at his father as if he were nuts. Cromwell becomes the most powerful man in England after the king, but he and his son have trouble connecting, even when they try. Lots of little moments like this humanize Cromwell and make him a truly three-dimensional character.

What does Simon Slater bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I fell in love with the book the moment I heard him read the first sentence. I'm so disappointed that he didn't narrate "Bring Up the Bodies" too. His tone for Cromwell is perfect, and his voices for other characters are nearly always spot-on too. He reads with great expression, and the people come alive. Also, much is made in reviews of the book of the author's sometimes confusing use of "he" when specifying Cromwell might make it clearer. Simon Slater's intonation made it so clear which "he" is meant in each case that I hadn't noticed the problem until I read those reviews.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, not at all. I have listened to it in small and large portions, have gone back to listen to earlier portions just to hear those scenes again, and am listening to it for the second time--in two different places on three listening devices (one with Whispersync as I read the Kindle version too). I want it never to end.

Any additional comments?

I knew nothing about this book when I started it except that a good friend recommended it. Right now, it is perhaps my favorite book ever, and I don't know if that would have happened if I had started with the print book.