Thomas Cromwell in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012)Read about another entry on the list.
Mantel has won much acclaim for her rehabilitation of Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son who rose to be Earl of Essex and, as Henry VIII’s right-hand man, gave the English version of the Reformation a much more Protestant shape than it might otherwise have taken. But her Cromwell, many historians insist, is a work of fiction, her emphasis on his humanity (his grief for his dead wife and daughters, even his loyalty to his one-time patron Cardinal Wolsey) distorting the reality of religious zeal and ruthless ambition that ultimately saw him meet the same fate on the scaffold as those he had mercilessly sacrificed in his climb to high office.
Wolf Hall made Melissa Harrsion's ten top depictions of British rain, the Telegraph's list of the 21 greatest television adaptations of novels, BBC Culture's list of the 21st century’s twelve greatest novels, Ester Bloom's ten list of books for fans of the television series House of Cards,
Rachel Cantor's list of the ten worst jobs in books, Kathryn Williams's reading list on pride, the Barnes & Noble Review's list of books on baby-watching in Great Britain, Julie Buntin's top ten list of literary kids with deadbeat and/or absent dads, Hermione Norris's 6 best books list, John Mullan's list of ten of the best cardinals in literature, the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five books on dangerous minds and Lev Grossman's list of the top ten fiction books of 2009, and is one of Geraldine Brooks's favorite works of historical fiction; Matt Beynon Rees called it "[s]imply the best historical novel for many, many years."Bring Up the Bodies is among Terry Stiastny’s ten top books about Westminster politics and Fiona Barton's ten favorite books centering on marriages that hold dark secrets. The position of Queen, in Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, is among Rachel Cantor's ten worst jobs in books.
--Marshal Zeringue
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