From the Bookshelf of Reading with Style…

Hamnet

Maggie O'Farrell

Start date: December 1, 2020

Finish date: February 28, 2021

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jul 20, 2021 Connie G rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, set-in-16th-century, england, book-club, literary-fiction

Author Maggie O'Farrell has imagined the meeting of William Shakespeare (unnamed in the book) and his future wife Agnes (also called Anne). He is working as a young Latin tutor when he notices the unusual Agnes. She is a herbalist and a healer with a strong connection to nature. She has the gift of seeing into the spirit world, and can look into the minds of other people which is both a blessing and a curse.

The book pays homage to their son, Hamnet, who is struck with the bubonic plague. The gri ...more

45 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2021 Rosemary rated it really liked it

Hamnet Shakespeare, who died in 1596 aged 11, was the only son of the playwright. He was born and lived all his short life in Stratford upon Avon with his mother, two sisters, grandparents, and a mostly absent father. That’s about all we know for sure. In this novel, Maggie O’Farrell fleshes out his life and that of his mother, Anne or Agnes.

On an emotional level, I thought this was a wonderful book. Agnes and her husband and children are magnetic characters, and the descriptions brought a Tudo ...more

2 likes · Like · see review