Worshipped as a saint, detested as a torturer, admired as revolutionary, condemned as dogmatic: the definitive biography of the man who dominated England in the first half of the 16th century Thomas More is one of the most famous - or infamous - figures in English history. Is he a saintly scholar and an inspiration for statesmen, socialists and intellectuals even today? Or is he the stubborn zealot famously portrayed in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall? Here is the definitive biography of this hypnotic, flawed figure. Overturning many interpretations of the sixteenth century, Joanne Paul shows More to have been an intellectual and political giant of his age, central to the making of modern Europe. Drawing on new archival discoveries and over a decade's research into More's life and work, this is a richly-told story of family, faith and politics.

Details

ISBN13: 9781405953627
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 576
Edition:
Publication Date: 02 Jun 2026
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 19.8(H)x12.8(L)x3.9(W)410
Weight (gm): 410

Author Biography

Joanne Paul is a writer, broadcaster, consultant, and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Intellectual History at the University of Sussex. A BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker, her research focuses on the intellectual and cultural history of the Renaissance and Early Modern periods. She has written for the Cambridge University Press 'Ideas in Context' series, and has been widely praised for her work on Thomas More, William Shakespeare, Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Her current academic project is an edition of Thomas More's Utopia for the Oxford University Press. Her first book for the trade, The House of Dudley was published in 2022. Thomas More: A Life was published in May 2025.

Reviews

To show us More as other than saint or villain, [Paul's] readable biography immerses us in More's busy, messy and changing world ... engrossing * The Times *
Fans of The House of Dudley – and , indeed , of Wolf Hall and A Man for All Seasons - will find much to enjoy in this immersive , richly told account of life , death , faith and politics at the early Tudor court * SPECTATOR *

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve.
Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise and style

* Wall Street Journal *
Paul is brilliant at bringing the swirl of Catholic England to life: its candlelit rituals, Latin prayers and saints’ days, punctuated by tinkling royal processions -- Alice Hunt * THE TIMES *
Significant. Goes further than most in seeking the essentials of the 'historical' More. Paul is terrific at evoking the sights and spaces of early 16th-century London, along with the forms and feel of clothing and objects. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, much to admire and enjoy * Literary Review *
THE definitive biography of one of history’s most complex and often inscrutable characters -- NATHEN AMIN, author of Son of Prophesy: The Rise of Henry Tudor
Joanne Paul has created a portrait of Thomas More that is epic, intimate and profoundly relatable to the modern reader. In Paul’s hands he is neither overly good nor bad; he just is. We are in a new age of tyrants – Thomas More shows the necessity of speaking truth to power at all costs -- LEAH REDMOND CHANG, Women’s Prize longlisted historian of Young Queens
Forget […] Hilary Mantel’s caricatures. In this excellent study, Thomas More is reborn as a complex, absorbing man * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
Very impressive -- ALISON WEIR
A work of proper scholarly history as well as a wonderful narrative read...Joanne Paul goes back to the words More wrote himself, to try and get at More before fame and the accusations against him took hold. I so enjoyed the result -- SUSANNAH LIPSCOMB