Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

From Goodreads

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.

A New York Times Notable Book (2020), Best Book of 2020: Guardian, Financial Times, Literary Hub, and NPR.

My thoughts

My thanks to the Publishers via NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read set in the late 1500's, loosely based on Shakespeare, his wife and family.  Whilst I have read Shakespeare plays over the years for English Literature and have seen some of them on the stage and on film, I have to admit that I didn't really know a lot about the man and his family.  Maggie O'Farrell has woven a story about some scant facts that she knew about Shakespeare, his wife, children and other family members.  Some names of family members have been changed and the story she admits is a result of her idle speculation, I don't think that this is a detraction at all from it.  At the end of the day it's a story and not a non fiction book.  

I enjoyed the story of Hamnet and the fact that I have learned a few things about the Shakespeare family that I wasn't aware of, told to the reader as a fictional portrayal has actually made this reader a little more intrigued about the facts surrounding the family.  Life can be cruel and events can have devastating and long lasting effects on people.  I found this a sad read and really empathised with Agnes and all she went through.