“Those who have been made, can be unmade.”— 'Wolf Hall'

"Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is a startling achievement, a brilliant historical novel focused on the rise to power of a figure exceedingly unlikely, on the face of things, to arouse any sympathy at all . . . . This is a novel too in which nothing is wasted, and nothing completely disappears."—Stephen Greenblatt, The New York Review of Books

 In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII's court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king's favor and ascend to the heights of political power.

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king's freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum.

Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous.

Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death. Those who have been made, can be unmade. Wolf Hall, starring Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, and Claire Foy. MASTERPIECE on PBS. #WolfHallPBS

“The fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms,” Mantel writes. “Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. This is how the world changes: a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase.” It’s to the credit of everyone involved in the production of Wolf Hall that such unglamorous examples of power being wielded make for such rewarding television.

 The adaptation of Hilary Mantel's 2009 novel is a tour de force, from its magnificent cast to its fascinating analysis of politics and power. “With Wolf Hall, PBS Finds a Drama Worthy of the Word 'Masterpiece'”— Full Article by Sophie Gilbert

Director: Peter Kosminsky;
Tony® Award-winning actor Mark Rylance and Emmy® Award-winner Damian Lewis star as Thomas Cromwell and King Henry VIII in this adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s best-selling novels. A historical drama for a modern audience, Wolf Hall charts Cromwell’s meteoric rise in the Tudor court - from blacksmith’s son to Henry VIII’s closest advisor, trapped between his desire to do what is right and his instinct to survive.
The man behind Wolf Hall.

 Release Date: 4/28/2015




Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky calls bringing Hilary Mantel’s Tudor novels to BBC2 “the most daunting thing I’ve ever attempted”, because “people love these books”. Adding to the pressure was a desire not to let the double Booker prize-winning author down and the fact that screenwriter Peter Straughan’s scripts “were the best I’d ever read in any medium, so then it’s like ‘this is really going to be good unless I screw it up’”.

Best known for gritty social drama, director Peter Kosminsky has enjoyed being out of his comfort zone adapting Hilary Mantel’s novel for BBC2. 

Peter Kosminsky has brought his trademark authenticity to his six-part TV production of Wolf Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian.Full Article by Tara Conlan

PBS' six-part miniseries about the rise of King Henry VIII's closest adviser looks like a winner. #TheReview: http://t.co/bRVtcRUodF
— Make A Difference! (@Poboyonline) April 6, 2015

 Everyone loves a good yarn about the British royals, and based on two episodes, PBS' six-part miniseries Wolf Hall is a terrific one. Directed by Peter Kosminsky (of the 2011 miniseries The Promise) and adapted by Peter Straughan from a pair of Booker Prize-winning novels (Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies) by Hilary Mantel, the show looks at the reign of King Henry the VIII (Damian Lewis) through the eyes of his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance).
Full Article by Keith Uhlich Via The Hollywood Reporter.


TheReview Accommodates Many Voices:
Great books about work, from the New Yorker copy editor and author of the new memoir “Between You & Me”. Mary Norris: On the Job — #TheReview

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