I’ve reviewed Tracy Borman and Dan Jones’s new books for the New Statesman – follow this link Behind the Mantel: in search of the real Thomas Cromwell.

To capitalise on the success of Wolf Hall or perhaps to offer an accurate historical account of Cromwell, there have been four recent or reissued biographies of Henry VIII’s first minister. Borman’s narrative adds a fifth.

Thomas Cromwell, Tracy Borman, Hodder & Stoughton, 464pp, £25 

The Hollow Crown, Dan Jones, Faber & Faber, 480pp, £20