Hilary Mantel’s novel,
Wolf Hall,was published in 2009. Mantel declared that it was intended to be the first book in a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell who rose to a position of great power at the court of Henry VIII, only to lose his head when he eventually fell out of favour. Its sequel,
Bring up the Bodies, was published in 2012 and, like its predecessor, was awarded the Man Booker Prize.
Wolf Hall’s success in 2009 signaled a revival of serious historical fiction, its subject matter representing a return to Mantel’s first impulse as a novelist. Her earliest novel,
A Place of Greater Safety,was an epic treatment of the French Revolution, focused through the lives of its most famous figures; however, although written early in her career, this novel was not published until 1992, by…
2252 words
Citation: Zlosnik, Sue. "Wolf Hall". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 October 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=26524, accessed 18 April 2024.]
