Wow this book had everything, haunting, beautifully written and draws on all your emotions. I love how magic, Witchery are all twisted in to the superstitions of the 16th century. I know it’s fiction but love this side of William Shakespeare and how he used his grief to flow into a play as though he uses it as a catharsis.

It is easy to write about Will Shakespeare, comparatively little is known about him. Is it him? Only referred to as the lover, husband, playwright, never named in this book. A very intriguing aspect , beautifully written and thoroughly enjoyed.

This is a marvellous book. Easy to read, well researched, profound emotional experiences. It is a lot more about Anne Hathaway (Agnes in the book), Shakespeare's wife, than his son Hamnet. She can see into the future, she can make medicines from herbs which cures people but these makes her an outcast. But she makes all the right decisions regarding difficult life circumstances some of them at her own expense. She is a brilliant wife, mother, sister, sister-in-law and a human being. In short she is the hero of the story.

Sublime

I've loved Maggie O'Farrell ever since I read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. Her subject matter ranges far and wide, but you can always trust that whatever she writes will be beautiful and interesting. This is no exception. The imagined story of the death of William Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, this is a meditation on grief written with absolute beauty and grace. It is also much more about the women that Shakespeare leaves behind when he heads off to London than it is about Shakespeare himself, which I for one found refreshing. I loved O'Farrell's depiction of Anne Hathaway, who she calls Agnes in this book. Agnes is an absolutely mesmerising character who shows strength and strangeness in equal measure. O'Farrell has such a poetic way with words that never skips over the earthy realities of the world she creates.Stunning.