Full name: Hamnet: A novel

Author: Maggie O'Farrell Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Historical fiction, Fiction Purchase/reserch links: Goodreads LibraryThing

Drawing on Maggie O'Farrell's long-term fascination with the little-known story behind Shakespeare's most enigmatic play, HAMNET is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child. Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet. Award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell's new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history. Similar books: The Secret Life of William Shakespeare by Jude Morgan Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell The Dark Lady's Mask by Mary Sharratt Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper Dark Aemilia by Sally O'Reilly The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell The Warrior's Princess by Barbara Erskine Conqueror by Conn Iggulden A Catch of Consequence by Diana Norman Theodora by Stella Duffy The Earl by Cecelia Holland The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan People of the Sea by W. Michael Gear Revenge of the Rose by Nicole Galland The Sand Reckoner by Gillian Bradshaw Empire Rising by Sam Barone Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell The Help by Kathryn Stockett A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan