Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

CAUTION: HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD!

What a read. What a Read. But moreover, look at that cover.

It's so beautiful it would've convinced me to read it no matter what the plot is. I also annotated this book halfway through reading so I might have more notes and more to say about this book. 

So! Where to begin. Hamnet is a historical fiction that tells the story of Shakespeare's oft forgotten family, particularly the death of his son Hamnet. Historically, the cause of his death is unknown. The author naturally takes creative liberty with some details, but anyway, who's to say what did and did not happen in the 16th century anyway? (Vampires, of course)

It starts slow. It introduces the characters slowly and through small spurts of information. From all I've heard of this book, I was actually expecting less mention of the man himself, who was never referred to by name-- always the husband, the father, the son, the Latin tutor. But he's definitely a character and not just a shade that's given barely a passing glance. 

Despite the title, the main character is definitely Shakespeare's wife Anne Hathaway, or Agnes, as she is called in the book. This is because her father refers to her as Agnes on his will. And Agnes is at the center of this story. She is depicted as a sort of wood dryad faerie witch who can cure diseases, see the future, and is otherworldly. There are many instances where she can see through secrets and lies, and even does a bit of divination when she repeatedly brings up that she and her husband will have TWO children. But how can it be? There's Susanna, the eldest, and the twins Judith and Hamnet. We all know why of course, but seeing Agnes and her husband justify her premonitions made me just a bit sad. 

As expected, Hamnet dies. Something that happens in the book that lowered my rating for it is the fact that there are parts that made me think Hamnet was going to die because of his Grandfather. John the grandfather was very early on shown to be violent and abusive. He hits Hamnet on the head and later we see the father telling Hamnet to be careful of him, we see Hamnet saying his head feels sore, we see the Grandmother denying that Hamnet was anything but perfect when he had a bloody cut on his forehead, etc. There I was, convinced that Hamnet was gonna die of a head injury. Then he dies of the plague? I was frankly, very, very disappointed! I guess now I can say they were red herrings, but it was built up so well and brought up so often I was prepared to read about the fallout and the repercussions of John's abuses. But it amounted to nothing, to my dismay. However, this book was written so beautifully it was a joy to read. I haven't really enjoyed many literary works because I'm such a big fantasy, sci-fi, mystery girl, but this book legitimately made me feel smart.

Rating: 4/5* 

My Storygraph review