Over the years I have read thousands of books, but only a handful written by someone whom I have actually met. My wife and I know Dr Hyde as we share her regard for cats, and indeed she has looked after ours when we have been on holiday.

I am no academic, but I found this book to be impressive, informative, and intellectual, but ultimately, due to the nature of the period involved, ultimately dispiriting. In common with anyone who has at least a reasonable knowledge of the times I am aware of the nature of the main characters, such as Henry VIII, Queen Mary I, Charles V, Philip II, Cranmer, More and Dudley, but the extensive list of lesser, but important figures, such as the cardinals who played a large part in Pole's life is one which only a lengthy study of the Church in the 15th Century would enable one to understand, without the kind of research undertaken by Dr Hyde.

Of course the backdrop to the story is the effects of the Reformation, and the beginning of that period when the wars of religion were to be so costly in human life during the 15th and 16th Century. It is necessary to remember that the Catholic, and Anglican, churches of the time were very different from those we know today, as the temporal power wielded by both corrupted the spiritual characteristics which should have been their guiding light.

The path that Reginald Pole followed, from being close to Henry, to becoming his declared enemy, is fascinating, and shows how religious differences became accentuated over the years, tearing former friendships apart. Pole seems to have been a decent enough person in his relations with those around him, of all classes, and does not appear to have been a fanatic. However he became very much involved with the persecutions which took place under Mary I, and it is this aspect which I find the most disturbing. That those on both sides who constantly proclaimed their allegiance to Christ, who told us to love one another, and forgive our enemies, should have been able to justify their actions as they tortured, and executed, as painfully as possible, those who dared to disagree with their interpretation of Christianity, requires a degree of double think which would astound even George Orwell.

At the end of the day, although Dr Hyde says that Pole did his best, the milieu which formed his personality meant that his attitudes towards those who were burned alive now seem impossible for those of us raised in a reasonable civilised atmosphere, to understand. In fact the image which stays with me the most is that of a pregnant woman being tied to the stake, and the terrible death of the child who, when born then and there, was thrown back into the flames by some monster in human form. What is truly depressing about this narrative is that the lessons which should have been learned from the cruelties of five hundred years ago clearly have not been, as the Nazis, when running out of gas at Auschwitz, threw babies and young children into the furnaces alive, and similar atrocities take place today across the globe.

It is a well written book which but one which offers little hope for the future of humanity.