Hamnet

I'm an avid fan of Shakespeare and now I'm an avid fan of Maggie O'Farrell. I loved this heartbreaking novel. It was beautiful written, the characters - especially Agnes - were wonderful, and it's one that will stay with you long after you close your book. Imagine if the Bard was truly how he was written, imagine if Agnes (aka Anne) were truly as magical as O'Farrell made her out to be. I wish there was more known about Shakespeare's better half,...read more

3.2

I have almost no idea what the book was about when I reflect on my experience, but I felt like I was there, and it was beautiful. Poetic, sumptuous, immersive descriptions of the touch of leather, the smell of drying apples, a passing thought that latches onto another. Apparently a young mopey Shakespeare was running around somewhere in the book but I barely saw him. Read this book for the love of language, not a forever fast-forwarding plot.

This imaginative retelling of the making of Hamlet, actually the making of Shakespeare, is remarkable. In this novel we meet his family of origin and witness his romance with Agnes, his wife. Agnes could have been a cinderella-like character, raised by a greedy stepmother, and ostracized by the community, but she has special abilities, a true generosity of spirit and a brother. We experience the taught family dynamic as the new couple takes resid...read more

Upon reading this book, I tried to pinpoint my restlessness with the writing and the story and realised that the title should not have been Hamnet, but Agnes. O'Farrell writes of Shakespeare's wife, Agnes (listed in a will by that name, colloquially called Anne) and her life from child to adult to wife and mother. When she loses her son, Hamnet, it is her undoing. O'Farrell feels her way around grief; the absence of her child and a part of her...read more