A truly beautiful and lyrical piece of work by Maggie O’Farrell. ‘Hamnet’ takes you on a journey from two alternate timeline perspectives, with such ease and precision. One is set during the course of approximately several decades and the other over the course of a day, hurtling you towards the inevitable. The way that these two come together to form a parallel of life and death, is gut wrenching and a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare. ‘Hamnet’ tells the story of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet a fictional telling of his unknown life and death all set in their merchant town house in Warwickshire. O’Farrell writes in such a descriptive fashion, that dialogue is few and far between and yet all of the characters breath such life and you know all of their inner workings. The house itself becomes a character in her sea of poetry and lyrical descriptions, witnessing all of the happiness, confusion and tragedy. There’s always something unique about knowing the ending of a book before you’ve even read the first page. That Hamnet does die and in doing so, inspires his father to write one of the most beloved plays of all time, ‘Hamlet’. It’s as if you are watching life on the sidelines, a spectre that can see the future, yet cannot interfere. You know that what is waiting for them is pain and anguish, yet cannot do anything to stop it. This doesn’t soften the blow however. O’Farrell writes in such a way that, despite not having children of my own, that did not stop me crying real tears at the ultimate moment.

I was familiar with Hamlet and the background but wasn't prepared for what I was about to read. It was simply brilliant, I loved the attention to detail.The book was so emotive and left me wanting more about what happened next. Originally saw a review of this on Richard & Judy's Lockdown show and that persuaded me to buy it!

Absolutely loved this book. Beautifully written and kept me completely absorbe to the very end. I wasn't sure whether this book was my type of read but am so glad I didn't pass it by. Extraordinarily poignant emotionally charged tale of family life, the grief of losing a child and the profound effect on immediate family and the village as a whole. Not often a book brings me to tears but Hamnet did. Look forward to reading more from Maggie O'Farrell

10 out of 10 What. A. Book. When I found out that Maggie O'Farrell was writing a historical fiction I was excited... like extremely excited. Some of her previous novels have been wonderful reads that I have really enjoyed but I think I just knew deep down that this foray into the past would propel her writing to a whole other level. I was so pleased to be proved right! Hamnet tells the story of Shakespeare's only boy- who died at the age of 11 most likely from a form of the bubonic plague- but once you start reading you very quickly realise that the focus of the novel is not this child but rather Shakespeare's wife, Agnes. She is a unique and fascinating character with an element of the mystical about her. She dabbles in the power of the natural world and is totally happy in her own company and skin. As soon as I was introduced to her I knew I wanted more and as the story unfolded my admiration for her just continued to grow making it ten times more impactful when the story took its tragic turn. I'm not sure there are many authors that could write about one of England's most famous historical figures without mentioning his name once or even making him the centre of attention. I loved this about the book. We all know about Shakespeare... to have this refreshing twist on his story was really quite special. For me this is Maggie's finest book to date and really shows off her skill- her writing is effortless. She creates such rich characters and settings in a way that you simple fall into the page when reading and before you know it you are so completely lost in the world of Elizabethan England. Truly one of those books where as soon as you have turned the last page you almost wish you hadn't read it and instead could it experience it all again for the first time. I envy those of you that are yet to discover its perfection and urge you to pick up a copy!

The parallels drawn between those times and now must have been prophetic but add to the ejoyment of the book, which moved me to tears. It is always difficult to fictionalise real lives and I have been put off other books which try to do the same, but this one was a beautiful exception.