For anyone who has followed the prolific and renowned career of British historian-novelist Alison Weir, the appearance of her latest fact-based novel, THE CARDINAL, must seem almost inevitable. Having written critically acclaimed portraits of all six of Henry VIII’s wives, as well as about the mercurial monarch himself, no one would know better than Weir how many rich stories from the Tudor court still await fresh revelation.

Weir's latest historical celebrity is none other than Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1471–1530), whose unlikely origins as a village butcher’s son make his dogged rise to power (second only to that of the king himself) a tale of excitement, intrigue, controversy and notoriety. No less dramatic was Wolsey’s abrupt final fall from favor, made even more impactful by a series of suspenseful flare-ups and reconciliations with the king.

"THE CARDINAL is a must-read for anyone who is passionate about history and its complicated, unique characters."

Adding to the emotional depth Weir achieves throughout THE CARDINAL is Wolsey’s persistent desire to fill a fatherly or brotherly role in his relationship to the younger Henry, who is barely out of childhood when they meet. From the beginning, they privately remain Tom and Harry to one another as Wolsey tries, with limited success, to guide the pleasure-loving young monarch into taking his royal responsibilities more seriously.

Ironically, Wolsey has even less parental success with a son he conceives by his mistress, Joan Larke; Thomas Junior becomes little more than an idle hanger-on in his father’s household and fades from view. Weir gently massages what little is known of Wolsey and Larke’s clandestine relationship by suggesting that they actually had several children together, even after her arranged marriage to another man.

It was Wolsey, both publicly and behind the scenes, who filled in the many administrative gaps that Henry impatiently left unattended in favor of a sporting and partying lifestyle --- a role formalized in 1515 when he appointed Wolsey Lord Chancellor of England. By then, he had accumulated numerous prestigious posts within church and court and, as Weir suggests, just as many aristocratic enemies who were resentful of his commoner origins and consistent ability to influence Henry’s domestic and foreign policy.

But the single issue that inevitably would lead to Wolsey’s irremediable downfall was his failure to persuade the Pope to annul Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon because she had failed to supply a male heir. Dubbed “The Great Matter,” discussions and negotiations went on for years between England and the Vatican, continually interrupting Wolsey’s otherwise successful career with periods of stress, uncertainty and well-founded fears of reprisal.

It wasn’t until after Wolsey’s lonely death in 1530, while en route to face trumped-up charges of sedition and other state crimes, that his erstwhile protégé, Thomas Cromwell, came to the fore, supporting the king in his secession from Rome and becoming the head of his own English church.

To put it plainly, Thomas Wolsey was anything but a likable character. His loyalty to his priestly vows was blurred by allegiance to Henry VIII and his own love of sumptuous homes filled with the finest furnishings, apparel and food that money could buy. His logical and pragmatic intelligence often won out over spirituality, principles and ethics, as he struggled to survive amid the cut-and-thrust politics of the court.

Weir’s nuanced glimpses into the emotional and intimate facets of Wolsey’s life help to explain (without over-psychologizing) how a bright young village boy with the good fortune to attain a scholarship to Oxford became a relentless and often sycophantic power-seeker.

And that makes THE CARDINAL a pointed and timely lesson for some of today’s political power-mongers whose values and consciences have been entirely dissolved by their fanatical allegiance to a handful of dangerously unstable world leaders bent on absolute kingship, whether they’ve earned it or not.

Once again, Alison Weir has crafted a powerful and fast-paced narrative on a very human scale, where fiction never compromises the substance of historical context. THE CARDINAL is a must-read for anyone who is passionate about history and its complicated, unique characters.