Wolf Hall

Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize. “Lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning,” says Thomas More, “and when you come back that night he’ll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks’ tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money.”

In England, the 1520s, Henry VIII is on the throne but has no heir; Cardinal Wolsey is his chief adviser and Thomas Cromwell is Wolsey’s clerk. Cromwell is a briber and a bully, an expert at manipulating people and events, and his ruthless ambition will affect politics far and wide…

“The most gripping book you’ll ever read.” The Times