Fiction
Knopf Publishing Group
2020
Hardcover
320
Purchased
England, 1580. A young Latin tutor--penniless, bullied by a violent father--falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman: a wild creature who walks her family's estate with a falcon on her shoulder and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer. Agnes understands plants and potions better than she does people, but once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose gifts as a writer are just beginning to awaken when his beloved young son succumbs to bubonic plague.
A luminous portrait of a marriage, a shattering evocation of a family ravaged by grief and loss, and a hypnotic recreation of the story that inspired one of the greatest literary masterpieces of all time, Hamnet is mesmerizing and seductive, an impossible-to-put-down novel from one of our most gifted writers.
My review:
This is one of those books that I typically stay away from. I'm not a fan of books set earlier than the 20th century, and this one takes place in the 16th! I also profess to know as little as possible about Shakespeare (even the name evokes memories of high school English classes). I picked it up solely because it won the Women's Prize for Fiction, and I try to read several of their selections every year. I'm so glad that this was picked as the winner, because I likely would not have chosen to read it otherwise, and would have missed out on a gem! I'll say right off the bat that you literally have to know nothing about Shakespeare to enjoy this novel. In fact, he is not even named in the book, we know it's him because of the play Hamlet which occurs at the tail end of the book. This is mostly a story of family and grief. How the death of a child effects those who are left. I can't say enough about the writing of this one......it was spectacular! The characters made me grieve with them, the time and place put you there, and the description of the bond between Hamnet and his twin was fascinating (they were written as if two halves of a whole). Because I'm not a scholar of Shakespeare, I honestly don't know how much, if any, of this story is based in fact. In the end it didn't matter, it was a beautifully written account of a family, and the way you go on following tragedy.
I urge everyone to pick this one up. If you think the time frame and people won't appeal to you, you may be wrong this time (just as I was). The writing alone is worthy of your time.
I've heard such great things about this one, but I've been on the fence about reading it myself. Like you, this isn't something I'd usually pick up to read. Knowing that you enjoyed it really helps convince me to add it to my list!