Tudor fans get ready to see behind the throne into the intrigue of the complex man Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. I was mesmerized by reading about his moral dilemmas vs his appreciation and desire for power and the good life. We follow his humble background to his rise to power and then the ramifications of his decisions to keep that power. The story was filled with emotion and information.

Weir is a new author for me and I am already looking at her backlist.

Rosalyn Landor provides a clear voice making it easy to follow the story.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group and RBmedia Recorded Books-.

Alison Weir is the queen of Tudor-era storytelling! I love all of her non-fiction, and this foray into historical fiction hit the mark! Hearing a story from Wolsey's perspective was a refreshing change of pace, and a very enjoyable read.

I find this period in history so fascinating with the different power house countries and the dissolution of the Catholic Church as the only way. Thomas Wolsey is an interesting character and I like the way Alison Weir makes even the most dry and difficult negotiations easier to understand and intriguing. There was a lot I didn’t know about his personal life and this was eye-opening. Overall, Weir has done a fantastic job making Wolsey accesible and comprehensible and I found myself, at times, feeling sorry for the mess he was trapped him. This was a very long book but it held my interest the entire time.

After numerous volumes following the court and many wives of King Henry VIII, Alison Weir sets her sights on Thomas Wolsey. Cardinal Wolsey is most notable for his attempts to assist the King in obtaining his annulment from Katherine of Aragon, but this story takes a step, or many steps, back to start with the story of a boy. From education to ordination to promotion within the church until coming to the service of the king and elevation to the position of cardinal and finally to the conflict that eventually causes his downfall we get a broader examination of the man. We take a longer look at the rise of someone made famous by his fall, but we also see the private life that is lesser known, from his patronizing brothels both before and after vows to his long relationship to a woman who provided him with multiple (illegitimate) children. Weir fleshes out the skeletons of the historical accounts 'til there is real life to the story with meat on its bones. Anyone who has more than a slight interest in the court of Henry VIII has definitely heard of Cardinal Wolsey, The Cardinal: A Novel of Love and Power gives us a chance to hear more.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book in the audio format and commend the marvelous narration of Rosalyn Landor. She made every character come to life adding all of the requisite emotion to Weir's prose.
I received the ALC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Recorded Books) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.