Hamnet

This historical novel by Maggie O'Farrell tells the story of the death of William Shakespeare's 11-year-old son, Hamnet. Although the Shakespeares' last name is never used, there is never a question about who is at the center of this story. Very little is known about them but here are some nuggets of fact (according to the New York Times):

Fact: "We know, for instance, that at the age of 18, Shakespeare married a woman named Anne or Agnes Hathaway, who was 26 and three months pregnant. (That condition wasn’t unusual for the time: Studies of marriage and baptism records reveal that as many as one-third of brides went to the altar pregnant.) Hathaway was the orphaned daughter of a farmer near Stratford-upon-Avon who had bequeathed her a dowry. This status gave her more latitude than many women of her time, who relied on paternal permission in choosing a mate.

Fact: Shakespeare was a grammar school graduate, the eldest son of a glove maker in declining fortune. His father had once been the equivalent of Stratford’s mayor, but by the time his son was 18, he had fallen into debt, disrepute and legal opprobrium.

A few more facts from the historical record: The child whose imminent arrival likely forced the timing of the Shakespeares’ November wedding was born six months later, a girl named Susanna. Two years on, the couple had twins: Judith and Hamnet. In 1596, Hamnet, just 11 years old, died. (The cause of death is unknown; O’Farrell imagines, plausibly, that it was plague.) By then William Shakespeare was an established playwright, living in London but providing amply for his family, amassing Stratford property and returning home for visits."

The Guardian calls it a "profound study of grief and love" and goes on to say, "O’Farrell’s portrait of maternal and sibling bereavement is so accurately expressed it’s almost too painful to read. Hamnet is, above all, a profound study of loss." And they point out one of the things that I most appreciated about the book, which is the largely female perspective on people and events about which we thought we were already knowledgeable. The grief is not just Hamnet's parents, but also his twin sister's, Judith, who bemoans the fact that there is no word to describe the person who was once a twin but is no longer.  

My book group was enlivened by a discussion of how much research O'Farrell conducted to add authenticity to her fictionalized account.

A review from NPR's Heller McAlpin calls this novel "timeless and ever-relevant."

The New York Times Book Review called it one of the 10 best books of 2020.

And a really interesting interview transcript from the Folger Library is here.