This 650-page brick won the 2009 Man Booker prize for Hilary Mantel. Wolf Hall was conceived as the opener to a historical trilogy (I never say *an* historical!) about Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell. The novel covers Henry's first and second marriages (to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn), ending with the execution of Thomas More - but curiously not yet that of Anne. Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour, makes brief appearances as a young girl. Wolf Hall is the name of the Seymour family residence, but is scarcely mentioned in the book!

With such rich material, a writer with prodigious knowledge of the period, and a Booker prize, what could go wrong? Alas, almost everything! Mantel takes great pains to eschew narrative tension and drama. Who needs that, eh? She writes, oddly for a historical novel, in the present tense, third person. Her overuse of the pronoun "he" makes it hard to identify the current protagonist. Mantel maunders and meanders, gathering endless background detail - we learn so much about 16th Century dress, cuisine, sanitation, instruments of torture, etc - but the story, where is the story?

Worst of all, the main characters are hardly ever on stage, much less centre stage, speaking for themselves. The reader is fed crumbs, through the gossip and whispers of servants, courtiers and rivals. So it goes, for hundreds of pages. The principle character, Thomas Cromwell, appears as an éminence grise. This at least fits his survival strategy of keeping his head below the parapet and attending to practical affairs. Spoiler: In Book Three he's going to blow it by introducing Henry to Anne of Cleves.

Meanwhile, I shan't be reading book two, Bring Up The Bodies. Astoundingly, this has also won the Man Booker prize.

By hand to Jackie and Jay.

Will release this at one of the OBCZs. Contrary to mike I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't worried by the meandering, in fact I quite enjoyed it. I think because I have read so many books set in this period, often story led, I loved all the extra detail and I usually concluded when 'he' was referred to, it was Cromwell we were talking about. Give it a go, you may enjoy it!

On the bookcrossing shelf down stairs.
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