Mary Pitts

As long as you have a basic knowledge of Tudor England under Henry viii , this is a riveting book. Don’t be deterred by the huge list of names preceding the opening chapter. Once you’re into the book you can always refresh your memory. There are about four or five you will get to know very well.. Norfolk, Gardiner. Sandier and even Thomas More posthumously. However the main character Cromwell is always front and centre. Whether you consider him a saint, sinner or like most of us in between , it is hard not to feel deeply for the man as his inevitable march to death begins. At first slow and then gradually proceeding at a dizzying pace, the reader seems to be right along with him as he makes his first and last journey to the scaffold. You do need a bit of commitment to get well into the book and sometimes Cromwell’s digressions into the past can be slightly tedious but stick with it. Mantel has written a superb historical novel about one of history’s more enigmatic individuals.