HAMNET

by Maggie O’Farrell

What an absolute gem of a book Maggie O’Farrell has written in Hamnet.  The novel starts off slow and feels almost pastoral. But, it keeps growing in intensity until culminating in one of the most heart-wrenching and satisfying endings I can remember ever reading.

Set in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1580, a young man finds himself tutoring some local boys Latin in order to pay off his father’s debt.  Amidst the agony and boredom of this tutoring, one day he spies out the window the boys’ stepsister, Agnes, walking with a falcon on her arm. He finds himself drawn to this extravagantly eccentric young woman who is rumored to have gifts as a healer. Their attraction is hard and fast and results in a pregnancy and marriage, although the young man is only eighteen years old.  In his attempt to get out from under his violent father, the tutor leaves his wife in his parents’ house to set out for London to try his hand at writing plays for the stage.  It wasn’t until this point that it dawned on me that the Latin tutor is in fact William Shakespeare.

William plans to send for his wife and child to join him in London once he becomes financially stable. The complexities of life keep getting in the way, however.  The first  baby is followed by a set of twins, one of whom is weak and sickly.  London will never be a place for her – especially with the fear of the Black Death always looming.  So the years go by, with William in London and his family miles away.  When one of the children does sicken and die, O’Farrell’s writing kicks up to its most poignant as she describes Agnes’ and William’s struggles to survive their despair and the strains put on their marriage. I was hesitant during the COVID 19 pandemic to read a book with the Plague as part of the story.  But this book is so well written; so completely original; and so full of love and pathos, I recommend it with all my heart. (Liz)

A SECOND HELPING

I am, unsurprisingly, always interested to read fiction that relates to Shakespeare. His life was such a mystery and the time he lived in so fascinating. This book is a gorgeous work of fiction about his son and wife and how their lives are affected by plague, the patriarchy, and the difficulties of thriving in the late 16th century. (Lily)