The extraordinary life of Thomas Cromwell and the real story of 'Wolf Hall'. Thomas Cromwell, chief architect of the English Reformation served as chief minister of Henry VIII from 1531 to 1540, the most tumultuous period in Henry's thirty-seven-year reign. Many of the momentous events of the 1530s are attributed to Cromwell's agency, the Reformation, the dissolution of the monasteries and the fall of Henry's second wife, the bewitching Anne Boleyn. Cromwell has been the subject of close and continuous attention for the last half century, with positive appraisal of his work and achievements by historians, this new biography shows the true face of a Machiavellian Tudor statesmans of no equal. Includes 50 illustrations, 40 in colour.