dontjudgeabrooke 's review for:

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

3.0

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While I was taking an illuminating peek into Biblical times with The Book of Longings, I was given an equally informative portrayal of Elizabethan life with this book. I enjoy this kind of historical fiction, the kind that allows you a true glimpse of what life was like in a different time, rather than the kind that's just romance using a certain period of history as an unexplored backdrop. My favorite part and the best example of what I loved about O'Farrell's writing may well have been the labyrinthine chapter that follows the origins of the affliction that eventually kills Hamnet (AKA The Brotherhood of the Traveling Flea). Knocked off two stars because it felt like it was missing something — some element of emotionality, maybe? — and the second half of the book felt a bit aimless.

also Agnes is a witchy queen and we love her