Everyone is right. Why did I postpone it for so long? Beautiful book, the writing, the tale, the imagination. Thanks to all who kept recommending it to me.
The author's exposition of grief is extraordinary bringing a tear to my hardened eye.
So many quotations to savor, i.e. this of his pregnant wife: "His mind is traversed for a moment, by an image of her body in its current astonishing shape, as he saw it last night; limbs, neat rib cage, the spine a long indent down the back, a cart-track through snow, and then this perfectly rounded phere at the front. Like a woman who had swallowed the moon." ( )

Hamnet is written by Maggie O’Farrell.
This is a brilliantly, lovingly written book.
It is so emotional with quiet yet powerful, lyrically written words.
The writing seems ‘to transport’ one to the late 1500s in England. I was completely
caught up in the day-to-day currents of the the town and its inhabitants. So historically
and culturally accurate.
Hamnet “is a luminous portrait of a marriage, of a family ravaged by grief, and a boy
whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays of all time.”
***** I am so glad I read this book. ( )

Little enough do we know about the Bard, William Shakespeare, but even less are we privy to in the lives of his most common family. A scant note about his father being an Alderman, the age gap with his wife, and the births of three children at Stratford is all that populates the historical eulogy of the Western world’s most famous writer. And yet his myth looms large centuries after his death, tempting researchers, writers, and enthusiasts to plumb the quilling depths to embellish the Elizabethan era in search of a lifelike Shakespearean family that comes off the page (and stage). O’Farrell may not be the first to be intrigued by the historical potential of the Bard, but she is one of the few who focuses the story away from its most famous player and brings to life the mysterious wife, his forebears, and the children who carried on his name. The story purports to be about Hamnet and Judith (being titled simply for the son who may have inspired Shakespeare’s most well-known play), but the whole family was so uniquely wrought that the story transcended my expectations entirely. Agnes was an easy favourite in the tale, as she plays the part of the surprisingly witchy girlfriend and matures into a woman who stands outside her time period alongside the husband who must leave their small town for London to forge the path that will bring him fame (and more importantly happiness). The pair are unexpected and illbegot according to the town, but their story is one that plays quietly towards Shakespeare’s own themes about troubled families, star-crossed lovers, and the risks one must take to forge a life. ( )

A truly remarkable novel, so finely wrought, conjuring up a powerful sense of the past, creating palpably real characters. A must for Shakespeare fans, but even if you don't know your Stratford-upon-Avon lore, there's a lot to be found here. ( )

As other have remarked, reading this book during the time of Covid 19 gives it an immediacy it couldn't have claimed in 'normal' times. This is story of a family, and how they cope with the death of one of its members, 11 year old twin Hamnet. It's particularly the story of Agnes, mother to Hamnet and wife of the man who's never mentioned by name, Shakespeare: and largely told by alternating the narrative between the time of Agnes' courtship, and the period during which their three children begin to grow, and Shakespeare moves to London. Reading the book, I was immersed in understanding the day-to-day business of bringing up an extended family, of small town life, and later, when Hamnet dies of the plague, of grief the which affects the characters in different ways. I relished the side-stories - understanding how the plague came to Europe for instance.
This is an involving story of love and loss which commanded my complete involvement while I was reading it. ( )

I read it. It was fine, but the sentences were all very short, a sort of skimming of a story which didn’t slow for any one character to be really felt.

Shakespeare as a Family Man?

I enjoyed this imagining of Shakespeare as a husband and father. The author takes what is known about Shakespeare's family and builds a backstory for his life. In doing so, O'Farrell puts Shakespeare in the background. The story mostly focuses on his wife and to a lesser extent, his children.
One of the main themes are independence, for Shakespeare, this means getting out from under his father's thumb. For Agnes, it means keeping her mother's traditions as a healer. Another very important theme is loss and grief...as both Shakespeare and Agnes both struggle with the loss of Hamnet.
4 stars: The only criticism of the story is the portrayal of Agnes as a proto feminist nature healer. While it did added to the theme of independence, this trope is over used. ( )

O'Farrell seems to pick just the right words for everything in this book. She truly draws you into this world of 16th Century England and the dealings of the bard's family. She never uses his name, which took me a minute to get used to ... but once I did, I was in. I get it, it's not a story about him, it's about his family and one tragic incident. Note: this is a work of fiction based on some scant historical details. At any rate, this is a beautiful story that was compelling, heart-breaking, and just lovely all at the same time. ( )

This novel was at the top of my reading list for quite a while, but I was reluctant to start reading it. Something about it being about Shakespeare (even if his role in this is not central) created a certain expectation that was putting me off. It proved to be completely wrong.

This was such an enjoyable book in a literary sense (emotionally, it was gut-wrenching).
The words flew off the pages so naturally. For a story centred around grief (with some extraordinary passages on it), there was a strange fairytale-like lightness to it.

The character of Agnes was written especially well. I loved the way certain things were portrayed with a touch of almost magical realism. It helped transport me back in time. But, unlike "regular" historical fiction, where the setting rules over everything else, this is a universal story of loss. Having a famous historical figure among the characters, unnamed, just made it more intriguing.


( )

I hated this book. Such one-dimensional characters (and way too many characters, too). Shakespeare's abusive father John is all bad. Agnes' stepmother Joan is all bad; no drop of affection whatsoever for two children she raised from babies. Shakespeare's mother Mary is a dolt; I never thought less of the two main characters, with whom we're supposed to feel sympathy, than when they literally laughed at Mary behind her back for being upset that her son was moving to London.

A couple of the characters see Agnes not as a mysterious woodsprite but as an imbecile. I thought it was an interesting perspective and chose to see her this way through the remainder of the book, which helped me get through it.

And hate it I did! I wanted them all to get the plague. ( )

wellllllllllll it's not that it's bad because it certainly isn't Bad, it's very good, but it does just barely miss the mark? ( )

:o ( )

Wonderfully imagined story about the family of William Shakespeare, based upon fragments known about their 16th century life in Stratford, England. It is a story less about him than about his wife, Anne (referred to as Agnes in her father, Richard Hathaway’s will, which is the name used in the book) and their three children, Susana, Hamnet, and Judith. I found the writing a little uneven in places, but overall thought it very good. ( )

I would never have chosen this but after seeing a tweet about how this book “ruined me for all other books” I knew that I had to give it a try. Now I am so grateful to that person for I have discovered a new author to love!

I knew from page one that this book would be good for me - I was transported right away to the staircase she described and the young boy walking down it - and it got better from there. Just simple and quiet but somehow so moving and real.

What a beautiful thing. ( )

One of the most beautiful, heartbreaking, finely wrought novels I have read in many a year. I fell into it and was besotted from the first page. I cannot stop thinking about it. ( )

Am interesting look into the times of the Plague. Not spectacular, but held my interest. ( )

I will forever be amazed that there are only 26 letters in the alphabet and they can be arranged in such a fashion that a book like this can come out of these 26 letters.
Maggie O'Farrell took me to late 1500's England and I felt like I was surreptitiously living and breathing with the characters in the story. It is a story of inspiring love, devastating tragedy, and raw survival. ( )

The author can transport you brilliantly to another time and place: Stratford on Avon in Elizabeathan times. The characters she creates come alive vividly. It is a testimony to her skill that this book was a page turner for me even though I really dislike the flashback narration that was in the first part of the book.The narrative often goes into extensive detail about everyday life but it is done with such a fine stroke that you are transported.
The book is current in that losing a child is a tragedy for families today too. But I have to say that Agnes' reaction was selfish to me, she had two surviving daughters, didn't they deserve her attention and support? Only Hamnet? Also I found the magical powers Agnes had to be far fetched, but then again it's fiction. ( )

Hamnet is the story of Shakespeare, his wife, Agnes, and their children. It centers around the death of their son, Hamnet, after which the play Hamlet is written.

I absolutely ADORED this book and found it, strangely, quite nerve wracking. Knowing the fate of Hamnet meant I was on edge from the very beginning, always wondering how and when Hamnet dies.

Agnes' life is utterly heartbreaking as she defines the complete and utter sacrifice a wife/mother makes for the happiness of her family. I find myself still thinking about Agnes and parts in the book where I hope she experienced peace and enjoyment of life. How is it that I am so worried for a fictional character?

The story explores grief from so many angles, the parents, the twin sibling, the older sibling who didn't have the same connection. I desperately would like multiple follow up novels from the points of view of all the characters.

No knowledge of Shakespeare is required to read this novel and I highly recommend it. ( )

This is a historical fiction story about Agnes Shakespeare, the wife of the renown playwright. History does not reveal a great deal about Shakespeare’s family life so it takes the very talented Maggie O’Farrell to produce this fascinating fiction about Agnes. She is portrayed as a psychic and herbalist who marries William when she is 3 months pregnant with their first child Susanna. They are living in Stratford next door to Shakespeare’s parents. His father is a brutal, angry man and his mother is more subdued. The family tolerates Agnes’ oddness and clairvoyance and respects her intelligence. As William becomes more successful he spends more time in London, leaving Agnes, Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith alone. The plague visits the family home and a child’s death becomes a heartbreaking fissure in the couple’s relationship.
This story is a page turner. It is very well written, characters are well developed and the natural world that Agnes explores and uses for medicines is beautifully described. ( )

I’m still a bit teary eyed, having just spent the past hour reading a description of grief so compelling I was unable to keep my emotions under control.
Maggie O’Farell’s story about Shakespeare’s wife and family immerses the reader so firmly into the family drama I am quite bereft to have to put them aside and go back to my everyday life.

It also makes me want to go back and gut my work in progress and start over, try to create at least a shadow of the feeling she was able to reveal in me.

The creation of Shakespeare’s time and world is marvellous. I can smell the camomile, the sheep, the mud. I saw London as Agnes sees it, the smells, the noise, the casual acceptance of death and torment.

The relationships between the characters are strongly evocative- Agnes’s coolness to her husband after sensing his activities when away, her resentment of his being away while she coped with the family tragedies- these all read true. She forgives him again and again, and this rings true, too.

What really gutted me was the description of Agnes’ grief after the death of Hamlet. I have a child, a grown man now, who, while still alive, refuses to have anything to do with me. The grief associated with this has been as sharp as if he had died, adding the additional barbs of being rejected again and again, day by day. I’ve found it hard to express what that feels like- O’Farrell has done this for me, described the endless searching for him wherever I go, the wishing for one more contact. Anyone who has lost a child will be able to identify with her writing of this grief.

It may hurt to revisit it, but it’s a good hurt, to see one’s feelings laid out by someone who, seemingly, understands. ( )

A view of Shakespeare from another angle. Well told story. ( )

Although historical fiction is not a favoured genre for me, this was a superb fictional account of Shakespeare’s family. It successfully evoked the era and created well drawn characters. I wasn’t completely sold on the ending but the quality of the rest of the book made this a minor quibble. ( )

Ugh why do people like sad books. I am not familiar with the content of the works of Shakespeare, beyond the names and genres, so the fact that he never wrote about plague despite being personally aquatinted with it is surprising and telling. I'm really glad we've figured out vaccines and antibiotics now too. ( )

Read 2022 ( )