A miniature jewel on Thomas More, from the snakepit of the Tudor Court to his canonisation and latest role as enigmatic protagonist of blockbuster historical fiction

What a treat this little book is. Without a word wasted, John Guy introduces us in turn to Thomas More’s life, his image in art (where would More be without Holbein, or Holbein without More?), and his afterlife up to canonisation and Hilary Mantel. The 100 or so pages of text are laced throughout with deft thoughts about More’s moral status.

No one is better qualified than John Guy to round up this considerable life and enduring influence. An historian and biographer, he began his career as an assistant keeper at the Public Record Office, then in Chancery Lane, and that’s a good deal less “assistant” than it sounds. His early books on the Tudor period were soaked in original manuscript sources little or never used before. Those solid, meaty monographs, one of them also on Thomas More, have been succeeded by more popular studies and a fine line in miniature books brimming with information and good judgement; his Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years is just out in paperback. If you enjoyed John Guy on Henry VIII, Elizabeth or the whole Tudor family, you’ll like this tasty morsel too.