Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel

When the first book of Mantel’s now complete trilogy about Thomas Cromwell and the court of Henry the Eighth came out in 2009, I was so enchanted by the writing that bought a copy to take and savor at our summer cabin. The bookmark which I put in then, page 219, remained in place for the next eleven years! So, with her final volume perhaps winning an unprecedented third Booker prize, this was the year to finally start over and finish volume one. The writing, imagination, and characters were just as wonderful as I remembered. Here’s a passage: “When a woman withdraws to give birth the sun may be shining but the shutters of her room are closed so she can make her own weather. She is kept in the dark so she can dream. Her dreams drift her far away, from terra firma to a marshy tract of land, to a landing stage, to a river where a mist closes over the further bank, and earth and sky are inseparate; there she must embark towards life and death, a muffled figure in the stern directing the oars. In this vessel prayers are said that men never hear. Bargains are struck between a woman and her God. The river is tidal, and between one feather-stroke and the next, the tide may turn.”

Unfortunately, I still had difficulty following dialog in it on occasion. Mantel’s habit of not always being clear as to who is speaking (mostly, but not always, you can assume Cromwell), combined with every third male character being named Thomas (which the author humorously refers to herself more than once in the book) made it slower going. But very rewarding. Wonder how long it will take me to get around to the next 1000+ pages. And I will. In the intervening years, some of the political machinations and intrigues strike one as even more applicable to our current situation than they were a short decade ago. One wonders if Lin Manuel Miranda read this bit towards the end of the novel: “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….” Masterful. 532 pp.