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A review by georginathelibrarian
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I first added Hamnet to my collection on hearing Maggie O’Farrell talk about the story during the digitised Hay festival in 2020 during the covid pandemic.
To hear her talk about a child that I hadn’t even known existed, despite studying Agnes’s husband at university, a child who may have died of a deadly epidemic, during that time of my own life secluded from our own deadly sickness captured my attention.
I immediately ordered a signed copy, and then it sat on the shelf as they often do, biding their time until the moment is right.
Finally the time had come to read it, prompted by my book club, and I am so glad I have. It was chosen for April as that is the month of Agnes’ husband’s birth and death, but the story is not just about that famous playwright, it is more about his family, and their grief at the loss of one of their own.
This story captured my attention anew, transporting me to Elizabethan Stratford, and had me riveted from start to finish, a feat that many books have failed to deliver of late.
I warn you, you will need tissues, this is not a happy story, but it is one that leaves a feeling of wholeness at the end, that all is as it should be.
In the words of Agnes’s husband “give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o’er wrought heart and bids it break”.
To hear her talk about a child that I hadn’t even known existed, despite studying Agnes’s husband at university, a child who may have died of a deadly epidemic, during that time of my own life secluded from our own deadly sickness captured my attention.
I immediately ordered a signed copy, and then it sat on the shelf as they often do, biding their time until the moment is right.
Finally the time had come to read it, prompted by my book club, and I am so glad I have. It was chosen for April as that is the month of Agnes’ husband’s birth and death, but the story is not just about that famous playwright, it is more about his family, and their grief at the loss of one of their own.
This story captured my attention anew, transporting me to Elizabethan Stratford, and had me riveted from start to finish, a feat that many books have failed to deliver of late.
I warn you, you will need tissues, this is not a happy story, but it is one that leaves a feeling of wholeness at the end, that all is as it should be.
In the words of Agnes’s husband “give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o’er wrought heart and bids it break”.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Pregnancy
Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Death, and Miscarriage
Minor: Sexual content, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, and Pandemic/Epidemic