NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Of all the stories that argue and speculate about Shakespeare’s life … here is a novel … so gorgeously written that it transports you.” —The Boston GlobeIn 1580’s England, during the Black Plague a young Latin tutor falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman in this “exceptional historical novel” (The New … “exceptional historical novel” (The New Yorker) and best-selling winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family’s land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people. Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever.
A luminous portrait of a marriage, a shattering evocation of a family ravaged by grief and loss, and a tender and unforgettable re-imagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, and whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays of all time, Hamnet is mesmerizing, seductive, impossible to put down—a magnificent leap forward from one of our most gifted novelists.
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A portrait of the family of William Shakespeare, whose only son, Hamnet died at the age of eleven. The playwright appears infrequently in the story, which brings the character of his wife to the fore. In this heart-searing story of grief, O’Farrell has built a world we feel we inhabit, though it is set four centuries ago.
When days had passed and I found myself wishing I was still reading Hamnet, I decided it was high time to add the novel to my “favorites” shelf and write a review.
I never would’ve thought 16th century England was a time or place I wanted to be, but Ms. O’Farrell’s building of that world made me feel at home. She made me long to take a meal with Agnes and her family. To spend a day in the garden or among the bees or in the mystical woods from whence Agnes came. To walk with Judith down a darkened street in search of her twin. I was sad indeed when the book was over.
I discovered this book by listening to an interview Ann Patchett gave. I guess it was THE book of 2020. I can see why. I listened to the audiobook, and it was mesmerizing.
Highly recommend, whether you are a fan of Shakespeare or not. In fact, the legend is never mentioned by name. In Hamnet, he is a son, a Latin teacher, a lover, a husband, a father. Though gifted, he is merely a man, and a heart-broken one at that.
The tragedy begins in the summer of 1596, when eleven-year-old Hamnet goes in search of his mother to help his twin sister, Judith, who suffers from a fever. The reader accompanies him down the twisty stairs, into the yard, and falls through time into the earthy, colorful, gritty world Shakespeare’s family inhabits. The reader finds his mother–Agnes (aka Anne) Hathaway–before Hamnet does. She’s surrounded by hemp woven hives, corralling her bees, who have become unsettled by a change in the atmosphere. Agnes is the bright beating heart of the book.
The novel is told in alternating time periods from Agnes’ youth, to the days she and “the Latin Tutor” fall in love, to their early marriage, to the birth of the children and the playwright’s career, to the tragic and unexpected death of Hamnet. (That’s not a spoiler. The fact is listed at the onset.)
I have never been so greedy for a book. I devoured it. The characters, the words, the world they inhabit–I couldn’t get enough of it. It broke my heart and put it together many times over, and I didn’t ever want it to end. You don’t have to be interested in Shakespeare or history to love this book. It is a timeless study of the human condition, a true masterpiece.
Outstanding beautifully written book!
Hamnet, the reimagining of what might have happened in Stratford-on-Avon in and around 1596, is a fine book of historical fiction. Beautiful writing. Poignantly delivered. Inspired.
Hamnet
Maggie O’Farrell
A Historical Note prefacing Hamnet states the circumstances of the story best:
“In the 1580s, a couple living on Henley Street, Stratford, had three children: Susanna, then Hamnet and Judith, who were twins. The boy, Hamnet, died in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the father wrote a play called Hamlet.”
With that, we have the entire summary of known facts. Shakespeare’s life was not well documented, freeing authors over time to spin fanciful yarns of their own (e.g., Shakespeare in Love). That is what Maggie O’Farrell has done, and done well.
The story opens with a third person narrative in which the young Hamnet is walking through his home and the family property and does not see anyone. It is as if the boy is dreaming, and the dreamlike tone of the narrative flows on throughout the book.
But we quickly learn this book should be named Agnes, after Hamnet’s mother, because, more than Hamnet, this story is hers. In fact, the name ‘Shakespeare’ is never seen in the story’s text. There are side references to the teenage ‘Latin Tutor,’ who eventually marries Agnes. Agnes’ husband moves to London, returning to Stratford and his wife infrequently, but eventually becomes a prosperous playwright.
Good writing propels the story, but the author is playing a game with us. She bounces around in time for the first half of the book. Even the name Agnes is confusing. William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. Who is this Agnes? The author doesn’t tell us why she varied the name until her note at the end.
Early in the book, we have passages that read like a folk tale until the reader realizes it is about Agnes. The following passage represents the style of writing throughout the book:
“If asked, the girl—a woman, now—would remove the falconer’s glove and hold your hand, just for a moment, pressing the flesh between thumb and forefinger where all your hand’s strength lay, and tell you what she felt. The sensation, some said, was dizzying, draining, as if she was drawing all the strength out of you: others said it was invigorating, enlivening, like a shower of rain. Her bird circled the sky above, feathers spread, calling out, as if in warning. People said the girl’s name was Agnes.”
The copy I read was clearly for the US market, with its use of double-quote marks rather than single ones. But words remain spelled using the UK standard, which adds to the feeling of the old English of the time. Plus, there are several words that have fallen out of use. I constantly pressed words in my Kindle version for their definition.
Eventually, Hamnet dies. The author follows that event with more pages describing morning than this reader needed. But once we have Agnes finding that her husband has his theatre troupe performing a play using his dead son’s name, we are headed for action that leaves you wondering what happens next, as the incensed Agnes heads to London to confront her husband. The ending is charming and thoughtful, and very satisfying.
All’s well that ends well.
One of my all-time favorite books. Beautifully written.
This novel is very loosely based on the daily life of Shakespeare’s wife and children, while he was the mostly-absent husband/father. I found it viscerally involving – O’Farrell knows how to create suspense even in the everyday-ness of these lives, and as with the Bard’s works, tragedy abounds.
This novel is a historical fiction based on Shakespeare’s only son, Hamnet and his short life. It is a very detailed story, sometimes unnecessarily so. Still, an interesting read.
Having taught Hamlet for many years, I was immediately drawn to the much talked about fictional account of Shakespeare’s backstory in the novel HAMNET by Maggie O’Farrell. I particularly liked the double timeline. The first follows young Hamnet and his sister Judith as the bubonic plague of 1596 invades their household. The second timeline takes place fifteen years earlier and follows the passionate romance of their parents, a young restless Latin tutor (Shakespeare) and a spirited woman with a mysterious past (Anne/Agnes). So much to love about this novel. The complicated extended families on both sides. The stunning chapter detailing how one flea in a foreign land led to a plague that made its way over sea and land into a particular home in a village northwest of London. The heartbreaking rendering of profound grief. And finally, the brilliant, breath-catching final chapter. Not since Isla Morley’s THE LAST BLUE have I been so moved by a novel’s ending. HAMNET will stay with me for a long time.
Maggie O’Farrell is a must-buy author for me and she’s outdone herself with Hamnet. Shakespeare is but a minor figure in this story about his wife and children and what a story it is! You’ll be weeping by the final pages so read with tissues!
HAMNET
By Maggie O’Farrell
A fascinating rich and immersive read that I loved and enjoyed. I just bought the beautiful hardcover from Book Depository and just dove in head first and was truly captivated by O’Farrell’s writing and storytelling style.
The setting is in the late 1500’s fictional story based on William Shakespeare’s family, his wife Agnes and their children. Agnes is highlighted in this story and what a fascinating woman she is. The story is written in a beautiful and exquisite way that you will get lost in the prose of this book. There is a lot of grief and it is an emotionally heavy story but oh so well done.
If you enjoy Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction and exploration into the life of historical biographies, then this book is for you and should not be missed.
I found myself so thoroughly caught up in this book – the story of William Shakespeare’s family, left behind in Avon when he goes to London to seek fame and fortune – that I’d look up from it, blinking, whenever I was interrupted. This is definitely going on my re-read pile!
What an amazing, engrossing heartbreak of a book. For those who avoid sad stories, this isn’t for you. But for anyone who’s wondered about what Shakespeare and his family were like, this novel presents a believable look at them and a very difficult period of their lives. Of course, this is pure fiction since very little is known about Shakespeare. But he did have a son, Hamnet, who died at the age of 11, and a wife named Ann, who was called Agnes. All of these characters seemed very real to me. Sad as it was, I was sorry when it ended. I wanted more.
An outstanding historical novel bringing to life, in exquisite prose, the anguish of losing a child to an insidious plague. What could be more timely? That this novel is about William and Agnes Shakespeare, and the couple’s 11-year-old son, Hamnet, only makes it more fascinating. This historical novel would be enjoyed even by readers who don’t typically enjoy this genre.
Beautifully written, profoundly sad.
Highly original and insightful. A delight to read.
Very well written with an intriguing plot. Well fleshed out characters. I loved it!
Hamnet is a beautiful read, a devastating one, intricate, and breathtakingly imaginative. It will stay with me a long time.
Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it.