Wolf HallWolf Hall
Score Modern
What it's about
Thomas Cromwell, the son of a brutal blacksmith, rises to become the right-hand man of King Henry VIII in the 1520s and 1530s. Henry wants to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, and Cromwell, clever, pragmatic and quietly ruthless, finds the way, breaking England from the Pope and outmaneuvering Thomas More.
Why it's worth reading
It won the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Mantel makes the Tudor court feel immediate, and her Cromwell is one of the great characters in modern fiction.
You'll love it if you liked
Memoirs of Hadrian
I, Claudius
The Name of the RoseGood to know
It's written in present tense and 'he' almost always means Cromwell, which takes a few chapters to get used to. It's the first of a trilogy; Bring Up the Bodies also won the Booker.
By the numbers
- Readers28 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics100 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller75 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz14 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #40 of the 116 historical novels we rank
- #47 of the 309 literary novels we rank
- #217 of the 1,573 modern books we rank
- #427 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
Moving, Thought-provoking
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Quick answers
Is Wolf Hall worth reading?
Yes. It won the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It ranks #427 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 79.3 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Wolf Hall about?
Thomas Cromwell, the son of a brutal blacksmith, rises to become the right-hand man of King Henry VIII in the 1520s and 1530s. Henry wants to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, and Cromwell, clever, pragmatic and quietly ruthless, finds the way, breaking England from the Pope and outmaneuvering Thomas More.
How long does it take to read Wolf Hall?
About 14 hours (559 pages), or about 4 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What awards has Wolf Hall won?
Booker Prize winner (2009); NBCC Award (Fiction) winner (2009); Booker Prize winner (2012, for Bring Up the Bodies).
What should I read after Wolf Hall?
If you liked it, try Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar, I, Claudius by Robert Graves or The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.