Henry VIII: Wolfman

By A E Moorat


When I began to read A E Moorat’s last book ‘Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter’ (reviewed here) I didn’t know what to expect, and it took me a while to ‘get’ it. But this time I knew I was in for a romp through history that would present events in a totally unexpected manner and with a (un)healthy sprinkling of blood.

Henry VIII: Wolfman is a ‘macabre, terrifying and hilarious journey through Tudor England as you’ve never seen it before … Henry VIII is transformed into a rampaging wolfman.’

One of my favourite characters in this book is Mistress Hoblet, the wife of the Witchfinder General. Their exchanges are some of the funniest in the book. ‘If you ever call me dear again, I’ll shove so many needles in your arse you’ll look like a pincushion,’ she tells him.

Readers of this book will experience Moorat’s ‘alternative reading’ of history already perfected in the Queen Victoria story. Along the way you’ll read about how Sir Thomas More got himself into a very sticky situation, and find out the real reason why Katharine of Aragon failed to produce a male heir.

Anne Boleyn makes an appearance too, beguiling the king just as he succumbs to the even stronger urge to transform into his wolf nature. Jane Seymour crops up somewhere very unexpected and makes perfect sense of how she became Anne’s successor.

The final chapter, prior to the epilogue and the afterword, contains a brilliant surprise and the last line of the afterword is delicious.

Reviewed by Helen M Hunt