Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Author: Hilary Mantel
Original title: Wolf Hall
Pages: 672
Edition Language: Russian
Series: Thomas Cromwell Trilogy #1
Format: e-book
Genres: Historical Fiction
Goodreads

Blurb:    
    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?
My thoughts: 
       This book was on my list for really long time. and all that time I heard only good things about it. Thus, unfortunately my expectations were really high and it was difficult to meet them. It does not mean that the book is bad - it is great, interesting and engaging -  it just did not blow my mind away.
   The story evolves around a well known and at the same time not so popular figure of Thomas Cromwell. It is always interesting to read about the life and thoughts of a real person even if it is fiction. I could not actually put away the book before finishing it, even knowing the basic events of the story I liked how the plot evolved and how the characters developed. By the way there are too many characters in the book, which sometimes makes it a bit confusing. The only shortcoming for me was prolonged relationship between Cromwell and More, a substantial amount of pages was devoted to it taking space of other possible plot twists.

Rating:  

   4/5