Hamnet (by Maggie O'Farrell)

I had never read anything by Maggie O’Farrell, but her novel ‘Hamnet’ was allocated for this month’s reading group, so I was very pleased to spot it at a church book sale a couple of months ago. The blurb on the back makes it clear that the novel is about William Shakespeare and his family, and if I hadn’t read the blurb it’s explained in a brief note at the front of the book. It’s also mentioned in the blurb that 11-year-old Hamnet is not going to survive. 

So I wasn’t really sure what to expec...