Wolf Hall (Audiobook)

Synopsis: Tudor England. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is charged with securing his divorce. Into this atmosphere of distrust comes Thomas Cromwell - a man as ruthlessly ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

Review: Bliss! I loved every minute of it. A fascinating fictionalised account of the life of Thomas Cromwell, from his humble beginnings living in Putney as a blacksmith's son, to his position as Henry VIII's favourite right hand man. We join the story as Thomas is preparing to run away from his drunken and abusive father. He recounts the details of his fathers latest sadistic attack, and contrary to my preconceived ideas, it wasn't long before I was completely in sympathy with him and wishing him far away from Putney. I know Thomas Cromwell's history, I've read about it lots of times, but this account calls for you to throw those facts out of your head and rediscover him anew. It wasn't difficult, I wanted to like him (for the purposes of this story anyway). There are challenging times ahead, lots of instances where his behaviour is less than palatable, but the groundwork has been done by then, you're already predisposed in his favour. You refuse to believe that he is a bad man at heart, he is loyal to his friends and affectionate to his family. When his motives seem questionable later on, you find excuses for him (though, by the end of the book, he does push your loyalties to the limit.)

The book has a great cast of characters, none better. The great Tudor role call of Henry VIII, the Boleyn's, Catherine of Aragon, Mary Tudor, Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More and Thomas Cranmer. The Boleyn's are described as backstabbing, manipulative control freaks. In contrast to Cromwell, and against the popular view, Thomas More's depiction is less than flattering. He is seen as tormentor and torturer. Cardinal Wolsey fairs better and I loved his relationship with Cromwell. Cromwell admires and loves the Cardinal but, and perhaps this is the first sign we see of his ambitious self interest, when the Cardinal fails to secure the looked for annulment between Katherine and Henry and is ousted from his position and summoned to the tower, Cromwell refuses to sink with him. He manoeuvres himself into a position of trust with Henry and the Boleyn's, and as Wolsey falls, he rises.

I was hoping against hope that the story was going to take us all the way to Cromwell's fall from grace and subsequent execution. Alas it didn't, we didn't even get as far as the demise of Anne Boleyn, though she was definitely on shaky ground as we left her (if only she had known about getting Henry to eat more sardines and wear looser boxer shorts, all, including her head, might not have been lost.) The title is a bit of a mystery, Wolf Hall .. the ancestral seat of the Seymour's ... is only mentioned fleetingly but what little is written about it is intriguing and it was obviously a place of great interest to Cromwell.

Although often criticised as unauthentic (good job, we'd never understand it if it was) I loved the dialogue. For instance, More's remark .. “lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning 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” and Cromwell's observations of the King when he is called to see him very early one morning (a frightening, bowel loosening experience for anyone) to explain away a bad dream of Henry's “The sable lining creeps down over his hands, as if he were a monster-king, growing his own fur.” .. fantastic. Also I didn't have any problems, as I know lot's of people have, with the lack of speech marks or overuse of pronoun's, probably because it was being read to me - perhaps reading it would have been a different experience (though I quake at the thought of 600 odd pages).

In the main I loved Simon Slater's reading, though his narration for Thomas's More and Cranmer were a little odd. Thomas More in particular sounded like a regular pantomime villain, but then Hilary's depiction of him rather suited that.

I loved it and could have listened all day (and sometimes did). I was busy with some stitching and the story just flew by.

Amenable Women (Audiobook)

Synopsis: Flora Chapman is in her fifties when her husband dies in a bizarre ballooning accident. Seizing upon her new found freedom, she decides to finish the history of their village that Edward had begun. A reference to Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife who he rejected for being ugly, captures her imagination as she begins to delve deeper into the life of this neglected figure. Meanwhile, in the Louvre, Holbein's portrait of Anne of Cleves senses the tug of a connection and she begins to tell the story of the injustices she suffered and just how she survived her marriage.

Review: This was a fairly enjoyable listen. I wasn't so taken with the story of Flora but was absolutely fascinated by Anne of Cleves's story (albeit a fictionalised account), without her narrative the book would have been a bit 'aga saga-ry', though, as always, Mavis Cheek writes with a great deal of humour.

After her husband Edward's death, Flora decides to finish his history of their village. Amongst his notes, she reads about a local estate which was granted to Anne of Cleves as part of her divorce settlement from King Henry VIII. Flora is incensed to read that Edward has written, as part of his description of Anne, the words 'Flanders Mare', this reminds her too much of Henry's pet name for her, the rather derogatory 'Bun Face'. She decides to find out as much as she can about this much maligned Queen.

Flora knows of old the tale of Henry VIII being much taken with the Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves, on the strength of it he proposed and was accepted. He was rather less taken with her when they eventually met in Canterbury. 'I Like Her Not' he was reported as saying which was putting it mildly, there was a whole catalogue of complaints, he found her ugly, repulsive and smelly (this was rich coming from a man who was obese, balding and with an ulcerated leg whose smell, had it belonged to any ordinary man, could clear a room in twenty seconds). The marriage went ahead however, Henry couldn't quite extricate himself without disappointing his public and, more importantly, reneging on his treaty with Cleves.

It was not to last though, Henry could not endure it, after a few months he called upon his 'good friend' Thomas Cromwell to arrange for the marriage to be annulled. His good friend's head came off soon after.

Flora decides to visit the portrait which is now housed in the Louvre (apparently we have Oliver Cromwell to thank for this, as well as banning Christmas he sold off the royal art collection .. though Stephen Fry will probably inform me soon that it's all hogwash). She learns from the tour guide that Anne was actually named Anna, but soon the same old story is being repeated and the words 'Flanders Mare' rear their ugly head again. Flora is annoyed, Holbein was known to be no flatterer and when Flora looks at the painting she see's a quiet beauty and intelligence there. She ends up having a rather public disagreement with the tour guide, it's almost as if the portrait has come to life and is talking through her.

She has indeed made a connection, and following Flora's visit, Anna begins to tell us her true story (or as true as a fictionalised account can be), her own revulsion at the sight of England's Golden Prince, her private refutation of all his accusations. He had professed that on their wedding night she 'was no maid', that she was unintelligent, ugly, slow and clumsy. But these were not views shared by any of the other people that had come to know Anna. In fact, considering Henry's track record with wives, how she acted next was of paramount importance to her well being. A less intelligent woman would have probably ended up headless, but Anna, fully aware of the dire situation she was in, gracefully withdrew. She couldn't go back to Cleves, so she stayed here, acquiesced with all of Henry's wishes, knelt before his new Queen, Catherine Howard, barely a few months after her own wedding, and took on the role of the King's 'sister'. She ended up with a handsome divorce settlement consisting of houses - including Richmond Palace - jewels, and a more than adequate annual income. She was one of the few people to remain on good terms with all of Henry's children, especially Mary and Elizabeth, and was welcome at court. She was in fact, like Flora, a very amenable woman.

Here are the two portraits, both by Holbein, of Henry's most beloved wife, Jane Seymour (right) and his least preferred wife (before the heads rolled anyway) Anna of Cleves. Apart from the fact that Jane's portrait has been restored and is so much brighter, I can't see that she was any more beautiful than Anna. And though he didn't necessarily love Jane for her beauty, he obviously wasn't repulsed by her.



I have a bit of a fascination with all things Tudor so in that respect this book was a bit of a treat. I did have to suspend an awful lot of disbelief when, later in the book, at a London exhibition, the portraits of Anna, Elizabeth I and Mary I conversed with one another, also Flora's daughter needed a slap (violent feelings towards literary characters is becoming a bit of a habit with me) and Joanna David's narration was patchy but, on the whole a fascinating insight into Tudor times.