Hamnet

by Maggie O'Farrell

Later, and for the rest of her life, she will think that if she had left there and then, if she had gathered her bags, her plants, her honey, and taken the path home, if she had heeded her abrupt, nameless unease, she might have changed what happened next. If she had left her swarming bees to their own devices, their own ends, instead of working to coax them back into their hives, she might have headed off what was coming.

How much would Agnes regret not returning home? How much would she regret and castigate herself for this? It’s almost unbearable to contemplate.