Maggie O'Farrell

'Dazzling. Devastating' Kamila Shamsie 'Stunning... deserves to win prizes' Marian Keyes A stunning new departure for Maggie O'Farrell's fiction, HAMNET is the heart-stopping story behind Shakespeare's most famous play. On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that one of the children will not survive the week. Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright. It is a story of the bond between twins, and of a marriage pushed to the brink by grief. It is also the story of a kestrel and its mistress; flea that boards a ship in Alexandria; and a glovemaker's son who flouts convention in pursuit of the woman he loves. Above all, it is a tender and unforgettable reimagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

Hamnet

Robyn Claridge

What is the word, Judith asks her mother, for someone who was a twin but is no longer a twin?

Her mother, dipping a folded, doubled wick into heated tallow, pauses but doesn't turn around.

If you were a wife, Judith continues, and your husband dies, then you are a widow. And if its parents die, a child becomes an orphan. But what is the word for what I am?

Judith watches the liquid slide off the ends of the wicks, into the bowl below.

Bilge Ince

She discovers that it is possible to cry all day and all night. That there are many different ways to cry: the sudden outpouring of tears, the deep, racking sobs, the soundless and endless leaking of water from the eyes.

Shore-ditch? Agnes had repeated. She pictured the bank of a river, silted, reed-frilled, a place where yellow flags might grow, and birds would nest, and then a ditch, a treacherously slippery sloped hole, with muddy water in the bottom. ‘Shore’ and then ‘ditch’.

She grows up, too, with the memory of what it meant to be properly loved, for what you are, not what you ought to be.

Laura Gill

Oahu is a giant clam. She has been living inside a clamshell, able to see a chunk of the wide blue world past the edges and walking along porcelain veneers in the meanwhile. 

If he were a dog, his tail would be constantly wagging.

The silence swells between them; it expands and wraps itself around them; it acquires shape and form and tendrils, which wave off into the air, like the threads trailing from a broken web. 

Ausrine Blazyte

What is the word, Judith asks her mother, for some one who was a twin but is no longer a twin? 

If you were a wife, Judith continues, and your husband dies, then you are a widow. And if its parents die. a child becomes an orphan. But what is the word for what I am?

Anyone, Eliza is thinking, who describes dying as 'slipping away' or 'peaceful' has never witnessed it happen. Death is violent, death is a struggle. The body clings to life, as ivy to a wall, and will not easily let go, will not surrender its grip without a fight.

How can he live without her? He cannot. It is like asking the heart to live without the lungs, like tearing the moon out of the sky and asking the stars to do its work, like expecting the barley to grow without rain.

She grows up feeling wrong, out of place, too dark, too tall, too unruly, too opinionated, too silent, too strange. She grows up with the awareness that she is merely tolerated, an irritant, useless, that she does not deserve love, that she will need to change herself substantially, crush herself down if she is to be married. She grows up, too, with the memory of what it meant to be properly loved, for what you are, not what you ought to be. 

Every life has its kernel, its hub, its epicentre, from which everything flows out, to which everything returns. 

Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 Agnes, una muchacha peculiar que parece no rendir cuentas a nadie y que es capaz de crear misteriosos remedios con sencillas combinaciones de plantas, es la comidilla de Stratford, un pequeño pueblo de Inglaterra. Cuando conoce a un joven preceptor de latín igual de extraordinario que ella, se da cuenta enseguida de que están llamados a formar una familia. Pero su matrimonio se verá puesto a prueba, primero por sus parientes y después por una inesperada desgracia. Partiendo de la historia familiar de Shakespeare, Maggie O’Farrell transita entre la ficción y la realidad para trazar una hipnótica recreación del suceso que inspiró una de las obras literarias más famosas de todos los tiempos. La autora, lejos de fijarse únicamente en los acontecimientos conocidos, reivindica con ternura las inolvidables figuras que habitan en los márgenes de la historia y ahonda en las pequeñas grandes cuestiones de cualquier existencia: la vida familiar, el afecto, el dolor y la pérdida. El resultado es una prodigiosa novela que ha cosechado un enorme éxito internacional y confirma a O’Farrell como una de las voces más brillantes de la literatura inglesa actual. «Sobresaliente, preciosa, conmovedora (...) El libro de su vida.» Tracy Chevalier «Un extraordinario hito de la imaginación y la empatía.» The New York Times «Un regalo para los sentidos. Una novela muy especial.» The Sunday Times «Una historia emotiva y llena de intriga sobre la manera en que el dolor transforma brutalmente un matrimonio.» The Washington Post «Una saga familiar tan llena de vida, de magia y de afecto que desearía que fuera real. (...) Maravillosamente escrita.» The Boston Globe «Su mejor novela hasta la fecha. Hamnet demuestra que siempre hay nuevas historias que contar.» The Guardian

caroline

ame 

WINNER OF THE 2020 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Richly sensuous... something special' The Sunday Times 'A thing of shimmering wonder' David Mitchell TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART. On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that Hamnet will not survive the week. Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright: a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

Mariam Abdel-Razek

WINNER OF THE 2020 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER 'Richly sensuous... something special' The Sunday Times 'A thing of shimmering wonder' David Mitchell TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART. On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that Hamnet will not survive the week. Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright: a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020 - THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER

Sarah Jackson

Luke Harkness

I didn't get Hamnet at first I was confused as to what was going on and where it was going. However, about halfway through the book, it clicked and I fell in love.

Utterly beautiful. Utterly compelling. 

Read my full review on www.lukeharkness.com

Lindy B

Maggie O'Farrell's novel Hamnet tells the story of how the death of Will Shakespeare's son impacted the development of his most famous play. Albeit light on the historicity (no mentions of a particular Thomas Kyd tragedy or the possible 1587 Ur-Hamlet here!), Hamnet is set in a world where child mortality is high, death during childbirth is common, and at any point one's whole family could perish from bubonic plague; the thematic throughline from Hamlet to Hamnet is grief. 

Rarely is it the case that the protagonist the reason I like a book less than I think I ought to, but I cannot get behind most the creative choices behind Agnes as a character. She's presented as a witch-goddess with a literal evil stepmother and mysterious knowledge of future medical practices. I don't think this serves the story well, as in terms of structure, affect, etc. the novel clearly attempts naturalism. (Compare to, say, Laurus which is decidedly and purposefully not.) Additionally, I didn't like that what I supposed would be a main theme based on the description -- an artist's responsibility to those whose lives are drawn upon in their work a la The Story of the Lost Child-- only factored in the last twenty percent and felt underdeveloped.

Sonia Grgas

A beautifully-written book that provides insight into how Shakespeare’s personal life may have influenced one of the world’s most famous plays, Hamlet. 

The story unfolds with a similar narrative to that of O’Farrell’s most recent piece of work, The Marriage Portrait. You flash back and forwards between Shakespeare’s youth and the death of his son in 1956. 

One thing I found interesting about this book was the author’s decision to never mention Shakespeare by name. O’Farrell opts to focus on the role his wife had in shaping his life and career. I find pieces of work that tell the stories of invisible women throughout history fascinating, albeit a piece of fiction.

The writing is incredible, the pages are emotionally-charged and there’s so much depth and colour to the characters. The novel touches on the theme of grief and loss in such a nuanced way, to the extent that I felt so moved during some parts of the book. It’s definitely going to be one that sticks with me for a while.

A beautifully-written book that provides insight into how Shakespeare’s personal life may have influenced one of the world’s most famous plays, Hamlet. 

The story unfolds with a similar narrative to that of O’Farrell’s most recent piece of work, The Marriage Portrait. You flash back and forwards between Shakespeare’s youth and the death of his son in 1956. 

One thing I found interesting about this book was the author’s decision to never mention Shakespeare by name. O’Farrell opts to focus on the role his wife had in shaping his life and career. I find pieces of work that tell the stories of invisible women throughout history fascinating, albeit a piece of fiction.

The writing is incredible, the pages are emotionally-charged and there’s so much depth and colour to the characters. The novel touches on the theme of grief and loss in such a nuanced way, to the extent that I felt so moved during some parts of the book. It’s definitely going to be one that sticks with me for a while.

lexie

"how were they to know that hamnet was the pin holding them together? that without him they would all fragment and fall apart, like a cup shattered on the floor?"

first of all, i know nothing about Shakespeare's life and this is just a work of fiction. But the way she delivers every line, and the melancholy way of her writing got me feel like i was there watching them fall apart. Anne/Agnes she's a great mother and she's strong. I also like that Shakespeare's not named.

Laura Mauler

I loved the book, but I hated that the author gave Shakespeare's wife super powers.

I say this often and I stand by it - the worst offence fiction could commit is being boring and this was very much that. I was ready to love this, given that "The Marriage Portrait" (which I read earlier this year) was stunning and absolutely gripping. No idea how this is the more acclaimed of the two but I guess without the success of "Hamnet", there might have not been "The Marriage Portrait" so at least  it has that going on for it.

Partings are strange. It seems so simple: one minute ago, four, five, he was here, at her side; now, he is gone. She was with him; she is alone. She feels exposed, chill, peeled like an onion.

 Hamnet is the story about Shakespeare’s family and his son who has passed away, so young. I am speechless don’t know what to say yet so awestruck by this strong story that moved me deeply. Also I’m so excited by the fact that I’ll also see the play of Hamnet the next day I finished its book.

Partings are strange. It seems so simple: one minute ago, four, five, he was here, at her side; now, he is gone. She was with him; she is alone. She feels exposed, chill, peeled like an onion.

 Hamnet is the story about Shakespeare’s family and his son who has passed away, so young. I am speechless don’t know what to say yet so awestruck by this strong story that moved me deeply. Also I’m so excited by the fact that I’ll also see the play of Hamnet the next day I finished its book.

O'Farrell is a master at setting the time and place of a book. She beautifully weaved the environment the characters without feeling dragging any pieces of the plot. Beautiful!

Ali Angco

Lara Engle

I'm not really sure what to say about this book. I'm a certified Shakespeare nut, and I just wasn't that into it, so I'm thinking that most people really wouldn't like it. But maybe my Shakespeare knowledge made it less interesting to me somehow? I was pretty bored by most of the first section. After the death, section two seemed more touching and the end was pretty poetic. I don't know. I just didn't really like it very much. So meh. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

ETA: I just remembered a few more things I wanted to mention:
1. This book doesn't have chapters. It just starts and keeps going. There are a couple ways it's divided, but the Kindle version I read didn't have the chapter time stamps. I like my chapter time stamps.
2. The first section alternates back and forth in time. It's kind of a cool juxtaposition, but not enough to make it interesting.
3. There's SO MUCH DESCRIPTION. Like, yeah, it can be beautiful, but not everything needs a metaphor.
4. It's super sad and sometimes the layers and layers of description get in the way of the feelings and I think the feelings are supposed to be the point.

After the first few pages I was hooked. By halfway through, I was adding all of O’Farrell’s books to my ‘must reads’. Her writing is simply fabulous and she’s able to portray emotions of sadness and love better than anyone. Agnes‘s eccentricities were such a pleasure to read, and while most of the book was fictional, I would love to believe that behind Shakespeare was a brilliant, strong woman (as with most men in history). A heartbreaking depiction of loss and the intricacies of family. 

Jacqui Spears

the failmarriage (ik it didn’t end up being one but the aspects were there) almost made me give it 5 stars

horu

This book made me love and hate William Shakespeare. Read it. Find the beauty of it. My only hope is that you don’t resonate with it too much.

Kaitlyn R

I absolutely loved it, devoured the entire thing in 4 days

beth killen

Jane Huber

Even though this isn’t my genre, I was surprised by how much the story interested me as well as the writing style. However, the majority of the book was a bit boring and dragged a bit. But I can appreciate all the symbolism (and there was lots of it)

Boothby

Beautifully written, but with no real heart or dramatic center for all that lyricism. I shy away from proclaiming that authors picked the wrong events for their own books since those kinds of critiques aren't constructive, only expressions that I wished I'd read a different book... But in this case, I wish I'd read the excellent-sounding book actually proposed in the blurb: How does the family make sense of the the portrayal of their private tragedies into public art? What of the boy Hamnet is captured in Hamlet, and what is lost? It turns out the novel isn't interested in any of this!

Instead, we get love story between Agnes and an unnamed Latin tutor (psst! you guys, it's TOTALLY Shakespeare!), which, while sweet enough, resembles a million other period pieces, and a zoomed in portrait of Agnes' grief, which also has nothing new to say about the agony of losing a child. The small glimpses of who Hamnet was and his relationship with his sister Judith were inventive, sweet, and captivating. I also loved the single weakly experimental chapter, that traced the origin of the plague outbreak around the world. Overall there were a lot of fascinating elements and potential in this book for a truly original narrative weaving both fact and fiction. However, the novel is focused single-mindedly on the most pedestrian story beats that every self-styled literary writer thinks will make their novel An Important Family Drama.

(view spoiler)[The LAST chapter closes on Agnes seeing the first scene of Hamlet on stage. While she initially feels betrayed by Hamnet's depiction on stage, she concludes that her husband must be processing his own grief by symbolically substituting his own death for Hamnet's because he plays the ghost of a dead father speaking with his living son... No idea how her reaction changes when she sees Hamlet stabbed to death in Act III. (hide spoiler)]

Maggie O&039;Farrell

Lynn

Unpopular opinion ahead: I find myself struggling with this book. I don’t care much for the characters, the plot feels haphazard and I am getting very frustrated with the time jumps not having clear cut signs. The fact that I do not care that characters are dying and/or getting married probably speaks volumes as to how distant I feel from this book. The prose is beautiful, but it alone cannot make up for the boring and very flat seeming plot. I think this might be a DNF for me for now.

Hamnet is a beautiful story about love and grief, about family and finding yourself. A lot is encompassed in this small book. It's so much more than a novel about the plague, yet of course that aspect does play a large part. The love story at the beginning was so sweet yet held so much tension--I loved it. The unnamed Latin tutor and Agnes are a great couple and I wish more scenes were included about their early romance. I absolutely adore Agnes and think she's one of my favorite female literary characters.

This book moved me. It really resonated with me, even more than some of my favorite books. I felt I related to (almost) every character at one point or another. Normally I prefer first person POVs throughout a book, but the varying POVs here were written so well I did not mind them at all.

I will say I thought the ending was a little abrupt, but most everything was resolved so I cannot fault the author too much. And, some of the writing style was a bit difficult at times for me, such as the lists of a particular trait or thought sequence. Sometimes reading is a struggle for me (with my post-COVID brain) and particular ways of writing are hard to follow. Writing like (this is just an example, not taken from the book) "and thoughtful and kind and sweet and loving" and so on, can be tricky for me, for whatever reason. I don't know if anyone else suffers from this road block, but it still didn't take away my enjoyment of this book.

Read. This. Book. I think I'm a little bit in love with Shakespeare now?

Amanda

4.5 stars 

Hamnet is a beautiful story about love and grief, about family and finding yourself. A lot is encompassed in this small book. It's so much more than a novel about the plague, yet of course that aspect does play a large part. The love story at the beginning was so sweet yet held so much tension--I loved it. The unnamed Latin tutor and Agnes are a great couple and I wish more scenes were included about their early romance. I absolutely adore Agnes and think she's one of my favorite female literary characters.

This book moved me. It really resonated with me, even more than some of my favorite books. I felt I related to (almost) every character at one point or another. Normally I prefer first person POVs throughout a book, but the varying POVs here were written so well I did not mind them at all.

I will say I thought the ending was a little abrupt, but most everything was resolved so I cannot fault the author too much. And, some of the writing style was a bit difficult at times for me, such as the lists of a particular trait or thought sequence. Sometimes reading is a struggle for me (with my post-COVID brain) and particular ways of writing are hard to follow. Writing like (this is just an example, not taken from the book) "and thoughtful and kind and sweet and loving" and so on, can be tricky for me, for whatever reason. I don't know if anyone else suffers from this road block, but it still didn't take away my enjoyment of this book.

Read. This. Book. I think I'm a little bit in love with Shakespeare now?

Joana da Silva

This was the second book that found me in the midst of a reading slump, which is weird because I loved this book from page one. What a beautiful story Maggie O'Farrel managed to create! The dynamics, the complexity of the family relationships, everything was just amazing and the writing was some of the best I've ever read. Thrilled that this book lived up to its hype.

Do I agree that it’s somehow gauche to name Shakespeare? Or does it annoy me?

Margo Koss

Jamieson

Everyone seems to love this but... not for me. Maybe take my opinion with a grain of salt since I'm notoriously picky with historical fiction, and especially ones which fictionalise real people and events. Maybe I just went into it with the wrong expectations given it's marketed as "the heart-stopping story behind Shakespeare's Hamlet" and it's .... really not that. 

The story never gripped me. it boasts itself as the illuminating story behind Shakespeare's Hamlet, but the links Maggie O'Farrell draws seem tenuous at best. Really, this story is about Agnes/Anne Hathaway, and her experience raising her children while her husband is away in London writing. 

I thought the portrayal of Agnes/Anne was cliche and boring. Another reviewer put it perfectly "I especially hated the portrayal of Agnes as one of those almost witchy 'wise women' who abound in historical fiction: fey, with preternatural senses, a herbalist as a code for 'female' power... it's very predictable, very common 

Some reviewers also praised the writing but I found it overwrought and tedious. I didn't feel I particularly got a great grip or sense of the time period or setting through the writing. 

All in all, I just didn't find this story gripping or interesting or illuminating. I went into it for it's Shakespeare connection but it's really more of a slice of life from Elizabethan England and despite moments of interest, like the chapter about the plague arriving in England, or the final chapters as Agnes watches a production of Hamlet, there was little here that excited me. But I'm quite disappointed because I had really high hopes for this!

Very well written. That’s really all I can say…the writing style and book as a whole are not for me.

Sam White

Carah Gedeon

Literally started full on clapping when I finished this book. Bravo, Maggie, bravo.

Hamnet

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