Thomas More
A Life and Death in Tudor England
Published on 19. March 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
576 pages
978-1-4059-5362-7 (ISBN)
Description
Discover a story 400 years in the making - the definitive biography of the man who dominated England in the first half of the sixteenth century
'Engrossing' THE TIMES
'In this excellent study, Thomas More is reborn as a complex, absorbing man' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'[A] immersive, richly told account of life, death, faith and politics at the early Tudor court' SPECTATOR
'THE definitive biography of one of history's most complex and often inscrutable characters' NATHEN AMIN
'Significant. Terrific. Meticulously researched. Beautifully written' LITERARY REVIEW
Born into the English Wars of the Roses, educated in the European Renaissance, enthralled by the Age of Exploration and ultimately destroyed by Henry VIII, Thomas More is one of the most famous - or notorious - figures in English history.
Is he a saintly scholar, the visionary author of Utopia and an inspiration for statesmen, socialists and intellectuals even today?
Or is he the stubborn zealot famously portrayed in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall?
Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England is the definitive biography of this hypnotic, flawed figure. Overturning many received interpretations of the sixteenth century, Joanne Paul shows Thomas More to have been an intellectual and political giant of his age, central to the making of modern Europe.
Based on new archival discoveries and drawing on more than a decade's research into More's life and work, this is a richly-told story of family, faith and politics, and a compelling portrait of a man who, more than four hundred years after his death, remains the most brilliant mind of the Renaissance.
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MORE PRAISE FOR THOMAS MORE
'Paul has created a portrait of Thomas More that is epic, intimate and profoundly relatable to the modern reader' LEAH REDMOND CHANG, Women's Prize longlisted historian of Young Queens
'Very impressive' ALISON WEIR
'Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve' WALL STREET JOURNAL
'A proper scholarly history as well as a wonderful narrative read' SUSANNAH LIPSCOMB
'Paul gives us a movingly human picture of a family man, scholar, politician and, ultimately, political martyr' ELIZABETH NORTON
'Engrossing' THE TIMES
'In this excellent study, Thomas More is reborn as a complex, absorbing man' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'[A] immersive, richly told account of life, death, faith and politics at the early Tudor court' SPECTATOR
'THE definitive biography of one of history's most complex and often inscrutable characters' NATHEN AMIN
'Significant. Terrific. Meticulously researched. Beautifully written' LITERARY REVIEW
Born into the English Wars of the Roses, educated in the European Renaissance, enthralled by the Age of Exploration and ultimately destroyed by Henry VIII, Thomas More is one of the most famous - or notorious - figures in English history.
Is he a saintly scholar, the visionary author of Utopia and an inspiration for statesmen, socialists and intellectuals even today?
Or is he the stubborn zealot famously portrayed in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall?
Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England is the definitive biography of this hypnotic, flawed figure. Overturning many received interpretations of the sixteenth century, Joanne Paul shows Thomas More to have been an intellectual and political giant of his age, central to the making of modern Europe.
Based on new archival discoveries and drawing on more than a decade's research into More's life and work, this is a richly-told story of family, faith and politics, and a compelling portrait of a man who, more than four hundred years after his death, remains the most brilliant mind of the Renaissance.
__
MORE PRAISE FOR THOMAS MORE
'Paul has created a portrait of Thomas More that is epic, intimate and profoundly relatable to the modern reader' LEAH REDMOND CHANG, Women's Prize longlisted historian of Young Queens
'Very impressive' ALISON WEIR
'Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve' WALL STREET JOURNAL
'A proper scholarly history as well as a wonderful narrative read' SUSANNAH LIPSCOMB
'Paul gives us a movingly human picture of a family man, scholar, politician and, ultimately, political martyr' ELIZABETH NORTON
Reviews / Votes
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
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
3 x colour insets
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
428 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4059-5362-7 (9781405953627)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
05/2025
Michael Joseph Ltd
€37.50
Available immediately
E-Book
05/2025
Penguin Books Ltd
€10.99
Available for download
Person
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.
Her first book for the trade, The House of Dudley was published in 2022. Thomas More: A Life was published in May 2025.