Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (Adult Historical Fiction Book Review)

Hamnet
by Maggie O'Farrell
Published by Knopf 
on July 21, 2020
Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction
Length: 310 pages

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Literary Awards:
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction (2020)
National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (2020)
Waterstones Book of the Year (2020)
Women's Prize for Fiction (2020)
Walter Scott Prize Nominee for Historical Fiction Shortlist (2021)

Synopsis:
A thrilling departure: A short, piercing, deeply moving new novel from the acclaimed author of I Am, I Am, I Am, about the death of Shakespeare's eleven-year-old son Hamnet--a name interchangeable with Hamlet in fifteenth-century Britain--and the years leading up to the production of his great play. 


My Thoughts:

I joined a historical fiction book club, called the Bookstorians, on Instagram for the first time this year and this was our group's choice for Mar/April. I luckily had it on hold previously and was able to read it within the allotted time frame! I'm not sure that I would have picked this up without the book club to nudge me but I love reading out of my usual comfort zones and I'm glad I read it even though some of the content left me rather glum afterward. 

In Hamnet, a young Latin tutor (Shakespeare) falls in love with and marries the wild and beautiful Agnes (aka Anne Hathaway). 
The story is foreshadowed by the death of their son, Hamnet, who died of the plague and would become the main character of one of Shakespeare's most infamous plays. 
The real focus, though, is not on Shakespeare, who is never truly named in this book, but on his fascinating wife, Agnes, and their children. 

The author has a unique and descriptive writing style that I really enjoyed, at least once I was invested in the characters, which wasn't hard. Agnes is a bit unconventional, preferring the forest to any other place and with a knowledge of plants and herbs that people come to her for. I related to her the most.

As much as I enjoyed this, it was also a difficult read. The ending left me so so down. I was mostly ignorant of Shakespeare's life and his relationship with his wife, which was a big focus in this book, alongside the grief of losing a child, and I wasn't expecting to be so disappointed with the characters.

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