Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. So I could not care less about

Thomas Cromwell. The Tudor time in England doesn't really elicit any strong feelings from me

one way or the other, except when Hillary Mantel is talking about it. Mantel, who died in September,

was a master at historical fiction,

and in making you feel the drama that sits between all the historical details, her most

acclaimed book was 2009's Wolf Hall, which got her a Booker Prize. It follows Thomas Cromwell,

the right-hand man to King Henry VIII, as he bears witness to and gives his advice

on some major moves happening in the kingdom. Mentel spoke to NPR's Lianne Hansen shortly after

winning the Booker Prize, and there's something so charming listening to Mentel. Talk about

finding these historical figures that are famously cast off as scoundrels and villains and trying to find the real

person inside that narrative.

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Just when you thought that nothing more could be written about the reign of England's King Henry

the 8th, along comes a colossal new novel by Hillary Mantell. Not only that, Wolf Hall, her hefty

tome, just won the Booker Prize. Although Mantel tackles the story of Henry's love for Anne Boleyn,

his quest to annul his marriage to Queen Catherine,

and the subsequent ushering in of the Reformation, her central figure is Thomas Cromwell,

the King's Advisor for almost a decade.

...