Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague (Large Print / Paperback)
Staff Reviews
This brilliant work of historical fiction tells the story of Agnes, a young woman who lives in Stratford-upon-Avon in the closing years of the 16th century. She marries a young Latin tutor and they have three children before the Latin tutor goes to London where he becomes involved in the theater, writing plays and acting (yes, THAT playwright), and not coming home as much as Agnes would like. When the bubonic plague sweeps the country, her 11-year old son Hamnet succombs, and Agnes is overcome by a grief that she has to bear alone for the most part. Gorgeous writing and vivid details about 16th century lifestyle and the plague make this one of the best books I've read this year.
— AliceAugust 2020 Indie Next List
“I loved Hamnet in very much the same way I loved Lincoln in the Bardo. This novel explores the way the dead haunt the living—especially how the death of a child haunts their parents—and does it in the context of a fascinating historical figure and time. But we know so much about the Lincolns, and so little about the Shakespeares. Maggie O’Farrell’s ability to construct a palpably real emotional life for all the members of the Shakespeare family—but especially for Shakespeare’s wife—is just magical. This is a powerful and haunting novel.”
— Nina Barrett, Bookends & Beginnings, Evanston, IL