Help me find my way through Wolf Hall! What's happening?

Cromwell - always referred to as "he" with never an antecedent noun - travels back and forth to various courts, visiting Cardinal Wolsey in York, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, as we reach the midpoint in "Wolf Hall." For the outset, I have admired that Hilary Mantel takes a rigorous approach to her material and doesn't pad it with exposition and background. And yet - this does make the book very difficult to follow (esp of an American?). For example, there are references to Wolsey's planning to take the crown or something to that effect. What exactly is he doing or planning? Talk of the alliances with the Emperor (Holy Roman?) and with France are way beyond my ken. There are lots of household spies, extremely strained conversations in which the characters face off as antagonists (Cromwell has lots of enemies). But for all that, I don't totally see what Cromwell is doing - Wolsey is his great patron, and Wolsey seems to be obstructing Henry's quest for an annulment. I guess. It's not that clear, nor is it clear what Cromwell's role in all this is. A little exposition would help! For a novel like this to work, we have to see exactly what the characters' motivations are and then follow them along the sinuous and devious path as they try to achieve their ends. Not that Wolf Hall is written as a screenplay, but I keep thinking it should be one - some of the obscurity would be clarified if we could watch the characters and hear them, and if the plot were tightened and simplified. A very difficult book - some have loved it but it's definitely not for everyone.