Hazel writes: "I've found it really difficult to read over the past few weeks. I've picked up and put down so many books, nothing quite able to hold my wandering attention before I flick back to the news or bake another cake, so when I finally fell headfirst into a new book, I knew it was going to be one I would think about for a long time. It must be a year since I first heard about Maggie O'Farrell's novel HAMNET (called 'Hamnet & Judith' in the US), a novel inspired by Shakespeare's son, and I've been waiting for its release ever since. Of course, the release date happened to fall smack in the middle of a global pandemic, but my local indie bookshop managed to get my pre-order mailed to me just before everything was locked down. After waiting so long, and having failed to read anything recently, the pressure was on and I was not disappointed!”
“HAMNET is the most beautifully written, brilliantly imagined historical novel, which looks at Shakespeare's life in an entirely new way. Interestingly, the author never mentions him by name. He is never William, or Shakespeare, but a father, son, husband, glovemaker, playwright. He is more often in the wings of the narrative rather than centre stage as HAMNET is the story not just of a beloved young boy, but of his mother, Agnes (who we will all know as Anne), of a twin sister, of a husband and wife, and of the utter devastation and heartbreak that follow Hamnet's death. That I read this novel (which is set during a time of plague), while in the midst of a global pandemic, definitely lent something extra to the narrative. I walked every step with Agnes, sat with her beside the fire, followed her out to the woods, felt her anguish as if it were my own. Often, Maggie O'Farrell's writing is so beautiful that I had to stop and re-read a sentence or a paragraph. This is an amazing historical novel which has been hailed as the best of the author's career, and deservedly so."
