Blurb
Though he battled for years to marry her, Henry VIII has become disenchanted with the audacious Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son, and her sharp intelligence and strong will have alienated his old friends and the noble families of England.
When the discarded Katherine, Henry’s first wife, dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice, setting in motion a dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason.
At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over a few terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally himself with his enemies. What price will he pay for Annie’s head?
My Review
Well, I certainly have to admit that this book gave me a more sympathetic view of Thomas Cromwell. But is it accurate? For years I clung to the acerbic depiction of Cromwell by the unforgettable Leo McKern in “A Man For All Seasons”. He was convincingly ruthless and efficient. Mantel’s version was almost presented as a victim, forever branded as inferior due to his common upbringing. He could never rise above the stigma, no matter how hard he tried:
How has it come to this? Only weeks ago, Brandon was asking him to be godfather to the son he has with his new little wife. But now the duke snarls, ‘Get back to your abacus, Cromwell. You are only for fetching in money, when it comes to the affairs of nations you cannot deal, you are a common man of no status, and the king himself says so, you are not fit to talk to princes.’
How to get beyond this? Cromwell was clever, all right, and knew how to cater to the king’s every whim regardless of its validity. That holds him in good stead for quite a while. But again, we’re up against the Anne Boleyn dilemma, which seems to fly in the face of historical evidence. This depiction of the queen gives Cromwell plenty of grounds to assume her guilt; and also, there seems to be very little insistence by the king to find a way to get rid of her. I see Cromwell treading the middle ground, doing the “right thing” by uncovering Anne’s adultery while helping the king along at the same time. I just don’t know. Henry seems relatively innocent in all this, aside from his lust for Jane. The author does not claim authority for her version, and of course this is a work of fiction, so anything goes. I did find it entertaining, though her rampant use of “him” and “he” often caused me to wonder at times just who she was talking about. I don’t know if that was deliberate, but I found it annoying. Didn’t stop me from finishing the book, though.
Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Bring-Bodies-Wolf-Hall-Book/dp/125002417X
