England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? The dustjacket is worn at the edges, particularly at the bottom of the spine, where the surface paper is starting to come off. The first few pages of the book are stiff and open awkwardly due to the binding being strong. There is damage on the join of the title page. Pages 551-595 are damaged/dented on the long edge. There is a scratch along the bottom edge of the pages. At the back of the book, the endpapers have ripped alo