Cover of Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall

Hilary Mantel, 2009

British novelist, 1952–2022. Won the Booker Prize in 2009 and 2012, the Costa Novel Award in 2012 and the Walter Scott Prize in 2010 and 2021.

Wolf Hall is a 2009 novel by Hilary Mantel. It won the Booker Prize in 2009 and the Walter Scott Prize in 2010.

All-Time Canon
  • Critics' Darling
  • Prize Winner

In historical fiction

On 10 of the 18 lists it was eligible for.

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At a glance

Author
Hilary Mantel
First published
2009
Length
672 pages (UK paperback)
Awards
Genre
Historical fiction, Political
Series
Book 1 of The Wolf Hall trilogy

Is Wolf Hall worth reading?

10 of the 18 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them the Booker Prize and The 100 best books of the 21st century (The Guardian).

ListPlaceOriginal
Booker Prize (winners and shortlists) (Booker Prize Foundation, 2009)WinnerSee the list
Costa (Whitbread) Novel Award (winners and shortlists) (Costa, 2009)ShortlistSee the list
Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026)No. 14See the list
The 100 best books of the 21st century (The Guardian, 2019)No. 1See the list
The 100 best books of the 21st century (The New York Times, 2024)No. 3See the list
The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026)No. 34See the list
The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture, 2015)No. 44See the list
The Big Jubilee Read (BBC Arts and The Reading Agency, 2022)ListedSee the list
Walter Scott Prize (winners and shortlists) (Abbotsford Trust, 2010)WinnerSee the list
Women's Prize for Fiction (winners and shortlists) (Women's Prize Trust, 2010)ShortlistSee the list

Best edition of Wolf Hall

The edition we link to is the Fourth Estate paperback (2019), 672 pages.

Publisher
Fourth Estate (paperback, 2019)
Pages
672
ISBN
9780008381691

How critics, prizes and readers rate Wolf Hall

Prize juries and critics rate it about equally: it earned 67% on prize lists and 64% on critics' lists, against 31% on readers' and booksellers' lists.

Critics
64%
Prizes
67%
Readers and booksellers
31%

Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work

Books like Wolf Hall

If you liked Wolf Hall, try Bring Up the Bodies, The Mirror & the Light or Catch-22.

Lists used on this page