Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Genre: Historical Fiction
Blurb (on back of book): Drawing on Maggie O'Farrell's long-term fascination with the little-known story behind Shakespeare's most enigmatic play, Hamnet is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child.
Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.
Award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell's new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history.
MY OPINION: *****
This was the biggest comeback of the year for me and coincidentally my last book of 2022. My status updates will probably highlight by the first 100 pages, I was literally ready to sell the book and never look at it again. Then by page 200, I was invested, and by the end, I was in love.
I will start out by saying that the prose in this book is the most longwinded, melodramatic, inane thing you'll ever read. Constantly repeating metaphors, descriptions, and actions in boring triads, it felt so unnecessary at times. The author found four ways to say the same thing and instead of just picking one she decided all four deserved to go in the book. I was tired of it. My eyes were drooping. My head was falling. My mind was spinning.
However, once you get used to it, you start to accept it. Yes, she likes to be super flowery and mellifluous and would have gotten an F in my AP Lit class for repetition. However, if you read far enough, you start to realize that the book itself is actually really good, even if the writing is a little much. I will admit some of her sentences were very beautifully written in ways that I could never have imagined but there's a point where it's just too much.
This book was heartbreaking. It's packed with emotion that slowly builds over time as you get to know all of the characters and culminates in the lengthy one-chapter Part II of this book. While I didn't cry, I definitely felt a little sad by the end. The ending itself was beautifully done and I couldn't have asked for anything to change.
The book follows William Shakespeare's family at the height of his career and the unfortunate arrival of the Black Plague. Interestingly, Shakespeare himself is never mentioned by name, and instead is referred to as "the Latin tutor" or "the husband" or "the father." I liked that because that man needs to be humbled. Genius or not, I'm sick of hearing about him. I was hesitant to even start this book because I did not want to read some Shakespeare propaganda about how he's the best writer who ever lived.
It especially centers on Agnes, Shakespeare's wife who is also known as Anne Hathaway. She is painted as a mystical, almost witch-like creature with the power to cure diseases with her poultices and knowledge of nature. She's just a little strange in the kindest sense of the word and I liked how she was made the focus of the book. I loved getting to know her character and seeing how she saw the world.
The kids are the other focus (Hamnet, Judith, and Susanna). Hamnet was Shakespeare's son who died of plague and we were all waiting for it to happen but O'Farrell managed to make it the most heartbreaking event you could imagine. I knew it was coming but yet was still a little surprised with how it was done. The picture of grief after was beautifully done. I have dealt with my fair share of grief and I think this book was a very realistic and well-done depiction of the trauma and coming to terms with the loss of a loved one. I can't imagine losing my son after believing it was my daughter who was going to go and feeling like I let him slip through my fingers. It definitely pulls at your heartstrings.
The story of the flea was the real turning point for me. I was in awe with how O'Farrell managed to take a literal disgusting bug and turn it into a whole story spanning countries and flea-generations. This was where I was like "wait, maybe I do like this book."
I don't believe there is a plethora of information about Agnes and her children but O'Farrell made it seem like she was working with thousands of volumes of data to create this story. I'm usually not a fan of historical fiction (I know, I'm literally a history major and avid reader, this should be my cup of tea) but this one was super interesting.
I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a serious, sad story set in the dark times of the Black Plague and Elizabethan era.
Main Character: Hamnet, Agnes, etc
Sidekick(s): Family, friends, etc
Villain(s): Plague, misunderstandings, abuse, etc
Historical Fiction Elements: This was a historical fiction novel set in the Elizabethan Era following Shakespeare's family.
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