Wolf Hall: Read Along with Me?

Damian Lewis as Henry VIII in Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall made its debut this week on BBC to cries of More Candles and Bigger Codpieces please!

Based on both Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and her Man Booker Prize winning Bring Up the Bodies, the first hour long episode of the 6 part BBC adaptation was a huge success in the ratings department. And it seems most critics and tv viewers thought it was close to brilliant. It's being called 'dazzlingly restrained' and 'event television, sumptuous, intelligent and serious, meticulous in the detail, but not humourless or po-faced.' We're told not to expect The Tudors, this is much deeper, less showy, more insightful fare.

The focus is on Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance), the son of a blacksmith, and his rise to power

Along with the praise, there were complaints that the attention to authenticity, right down to the use of natural lighting, made it difficult at times to see what was going on. I'm really not a fan of 'natural' lighting; I think it's the director's job to work with his cinematographer and gaffer to light the program so that it feels like it's period-accurate without sacrificing the audience's clarity of vision. I'll wait to see the actual show, for now all I've seen are images like the one above, and a few in the trailer (below). Based on those, the darkness, illuminated only by candlelight looks quite beautiful, a lovely Chiaroscuro effect. As to fans kvetching that the codpieces are too small? Ahem, no comment.

The first of the 6 part Wolf Hall comes to Masterpiece here in the US on April 5th. That's just over ten weeks away and while I posted the Wolf Hall casting news that Homeland's Damian Lewis was playing Henry VIII last spring, I've done bugger all myself to prepare. Which means I've got to get a move on and start reading now. The two books are a total of 1072 pages which means a little over 100 pages a week. Easy does it. Still, I better get to it. Read along with me?

I'll plan on posting about the reading on Wednesdays —so we'll have our Wolf Hall Wednesdays if any of you are interested— with photos from the series and as much as I can dig up on the cast and crew, costumes (those codpieces!) production design, locations, the writers, your reviews, etc. I've never done this kind of read-along thing before so feel free to let me know I'm doing it all wrong. And, hopefully, how to do it right.

I've posted an excerpt from the novel ...

PART 1 

Across the Narrow Sea 

PUTNEY, 1500  

"So now get up."  

Felled, dazed, silent, he has fallen; knocked full length on the cobbles of the yard. His head turns sideways; his eyes are turned toward the gate, as if someone might arrive to help him out. One blow, properly placed, could kill him now.  

Blood from the gash on his head— which was his father’s first effort— is trickling across his face. Add to this, his left eye is blinded; but if he squints sideways, with his right eye he can see that the stitching of his father’s boot is unraveling. The twine has sprung clear of the leather, and a hard knot in it has caught his eyebrow and opened another cut.  

"So now get up!" Walter is roaring down at him, working out where to kick him next. He lifts his head an inch or two, and moves forward, on his belly, trying to do it without exposing his hands, on which Walter enjoys stamping. "What are you, an eel?" his parent asks. He trots backward, gathers pace, and aims another kick.  

It knocks the last breath out of him; he thinks it may be his last. His forehead returns to the ground; he lies waiting, for Walter to jump on him. The dog, Bella, is barking, shut away in an out house. I’ll miss my dog, he thinks. The yard smells of beer and blood. Someone is shouting, down on the riverbank. Nothing hurts, or perhaps it’s that everything hurts, because there is no separate pain that he can pick out. But the cold strikes him, just in one place: just through his cheekbone as it rests on the cobbles.  

"Look now, look now," Walter bellows. He hops on one foot, as if he’s dancing. "Look what I’ve done. Burst my boot, kicking your head."  

Inch by inch. Inch by inch forward. Never mind if he calls you an eel or a worm or a snake. Head down, don’t provoke him. His nose is clotted with blood and he has to open his mouth to breathe. His father’s momentary distraction at the loss of his good boot allows him the leisure to vomit. "That’s right," Walter yells. "Spew everywhere." Spew everywhere, on my good cobbles. "Come on, boy, get up. Let’s see you get up. By the blood of creeping Christ, stand on your feet."  

Creeping Christ? he thinks. What does he mean? His head turns sideways, his hair rests in his own vomit, the dog barks, Walter roars, and bells peal out across the water. He feels a sensation of movement, as if the filthy ground has become the Thames. It gives and sways beneath him; he lets out his breath, one great final gasp. You’ve done it this time, a voice tells Walter. But he closes his ears, or God closes them for him. He is pulled downstream, on a deep black tide.  

The next thing he knows, it is almost noon, and he is propped in the doorway of Pegasus the Flying Horse. His sister Kat is coming from the kitchen with a rack of hot pies in her hands. When she sees him she almost drops them. Her mouth opens in astonishment. "Look at you!" 

"Kat, don’t shout, it hurts me."  

She bawls for her husband: "Morgan Williams!" She rotates on the spot, eyes wild, face flushed from the oven’s heat. "Take this tray, body of God, where are you all?"
He is shivering from head to foot, exactly like Bella did when she fell off the boat that time.  

A girl runs in. "The master’s gone to town." 

"I know that, fool." The sight of her brother had panicked the knowledge out of her. She thrusts the tray at the girl. "If you leave them where the cats can get at them, I’ll box your ears till you see stars." Her hands empty, she clasps them for a moment in violent prayer. "Fighting again, or was it your father?" 

Yes, he says, vigorously nodding, making his nose drop gouts of blood: yes, he indicates himself, as if to say, Walter was here. Kat calls for a basin, for water, for water in a basin, for a cloth, for the devil to rise up, right now, and take away Walter his servant. "Sit down before you fall down." He tries to explain that he has just got up. Out of the yard. It could be an hour ago, it could even be a day, and for all he knows, today might be tomorrow; except that if he had lain there for a day, surely either Walter would have come and killed him, for being in the way, or his wounds would have clotted a bit, and by now he would be hurting all over and almost too stiff to move; from deep experience of Walter’s fists and boots, he knows that the second day can be worse than the first. "Sit. Don’t talk," Kat says. 

So begins Wolf Hall. You can finish reading the excerpt at BookBrowse, then come back and let me know if you'll be joining me in my quest to finish the books in time for the air date.


Excerpted from Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Copyright © 2009 by Hilary Mantel. Excerpted by permission of Henry Holt and Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.