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pickHAMNET was a deeply moving, beautifully written read for me. I loved the lyrical prose and the quiet, intimate way it explores grief, family, and love—especially through Agnes‘s perspective. The pacing is gentle and sometimes slow, but it felt purposeful, allowing the emotion to really settle in. It‘s not a fast read, but it‘s a powerful and haunting one that will stay with me a long time. #lastreadof2025
If you‘re on the fence about seeing the movie, just do it! It‘s SO good, and a really exceptional adaption. I think you‘d like it without having read the book, but seeing it after reading made it so much more special.
Have some tissues on hand!
pickThis is a book about grief and love. “A Novel of the Plague“ doesn't really cover it. That the plague is involved becomes less important than the relationships. It isn't an easy book to read if you have a soul. A historical imagining, O'Farrell illuminates the shadows of the historical icon known as Shakespeare, giving life to stories untold and names unsung.
pickThere were many stunning sentences and wonderful turns of phrases. I was pulled deeply into this story quickly. And there was more than one part I read with a lump in my throat.
Checked in on my 2025 reading goals today. I had wanted to read 30 print books and listen to 30 audio books. I have met my audio goal, I'm at 30 but only at 22 print books with a month to go... I know I'll finish two print books this month (one of them tagged) but I also have a lot of mahjong to play, so I'll just take the L. 🤣
pickSooo so good! 5 huge stars. A quiet story, for slow reading. The language was lovely and piercing, the story was captivating. It just got inside of me and expanded until I felt like I would burst. Agnes‘ grief over Judith‘s sickness and then losing Hamnet felt so real that it could have been my own grief. The ending is superb.
I can‘t recommend the audio enough on this one, especially the one with Jessie Buckley narrating. Beautiful accent!
I pulled this one off my shelf because I wanted to read it before seeing the movie when it comes out next week. But it looks like the movie isn‘t coming to theaters in my town😭😕
Anyway, I‘m 1/3 thru and listening to the audio when I drive or cook or clean. I‘m listening to the one narrated by Jessie Buckley-her accent is so gorgeous. It‘s a much slower book than my regular holiday reading, but the writing is wonderful and I‘m riveted.
Hamnet + Chicken Adobo
#hamnet #maggieofarrell #ebook #audiobook #goodreads #goodreadsreadingchallenge #foodie #adobo #totefairie
pickDespite the title, Hamnet is really Agnes‘ story. A dual storyline, one that traces her life with Shakespeare, from their meeting through their marriage and children. The other is told through Hamnet‘s eyes as his sister grows ill. Once he dies, the last third of the book comes as scattered moments of Agnes and Judith‘s grief. Still, the novel is beautifully written, even if its format feels uneven. Book #72 in 2025
so-soDefinitely me and not the book…probably…maybe…likely…🤷♀️ I just could not get into it—which I suspect will make me an outlier when we discuss it at book club—and I had to force myself to finish it. It‘s not bad, the writing is, in fact, excellent but I just didn‘t find the story interesting & in the end, I really didn‘t connect with the characters. Just a so-so read for me although I get why other people like & why it gets such good reviews.
Time to start my irl book club book—although this isn‘t a book I‘ve had any interest in reading, everyone else is excited about it. I‘ve heard only good things so hopefully I‘ll be pleasantly surprised.
pickBeautiful writing but such a sad story! I felt the weaving of timelines was perfect to let me meet all the characters as youngsters and watch them all grow, both generations. Making Agnes the main character really worked for me. At its heart it‘s a story of motherhood and losing a child, that huge grief. The fact of the husband being one of the most famous playwrights isn‘t very important. A story that will stay with me.
pickMaggie O'Farrell is such a great storyteller!
This historical fiction creates a possible context for the birth of one of the most famous theater plays of all times. In the 1580s in Stratford a couple has two girls and a boy. The boy called Hamnet dies at the age of 11. The name of the father is never mentioned in the novel, but four years later he writes a play called "Hamlet", while we know that Hamnet and Hamlet are actually the same name.
pickMaggie O'Farrell is a brilliant writer; I'm struck by how clever she is. I prefer her later novel The Marriage Portrait, but this is another example of her fascinating style of historical fiction in which she takes a limited record about an obscure historical figure and gives breadth and depth to their short life (here, Hamnet Shakespeare, rather than Lucrezia de Medici). This one is about loss, and it is poignant.
pick4/5⭐️ #reread this for one of my #bookclub meetings and really quite enjoyed it. Really liked how the author dealt with grief in the second part of the book, how the four remaining people dealt with their grief. #2024 #historicalfiction #fiction #bookreview #shakespeare
https://bookshop.org/p/books/hamnet-maggie-o-farrell/16519834?ean=9781984898876
Just starting this now. For January, my favourite read was The Authenticity Project. February it was Prequel by Rachel Maddow. And from those two, Prequel is moving on. For March, Hamnet by Maggie O‘Farrell was my favourite. The best of the rest was Killers of the Flower Moon. Looking forward to see what my favourite for April will be.. 🤔 #readingbracket2024
pickVery well done speculation about Shakespeare‘s wife, Agnes, usually called Anne, and her life in Stratford as a herbalist. They lose their young boy, a twin, Hamnet, to Plague. His sister is Judith. His best play in London is an attempt to bring him back to life. A great book.
so-soBetter than I expected, but at times confusing and I felt the ending was too abrupt. I would‘ve liked to see how things would play out after the play, when they come face to face.
These are six of the women‘s prize for fiction long/short lists that are unread on my shelves.I am sure I have more. I just have to dig them up. I have decided to try to read one per month starting in February.Ones that I have read so far in the past few years are:
The bookshop
The Silence of the Girls
Sing Unburied Sing
Circe
An American Marriage
Black Butterfies
#womensdozen #womenshalfdozen
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Another great #AuldLangSpine pick from @JenReadsAlot ! I don‘t know what I expected, but this was not it! Totally different from what I usually read, but it was very well done. I loved the characters, especially Agnes and the tie-ins to actual people and events was so clever.
My favorite book of June was Hamnet, which I read with my IRL book club.
#12Booksof2023 @Andrew65
pickI don‘t know why this took me a while to understand what was going on with the time jump. I liked it when I got in the groove. I really loved how some passages were written. It drew you in and made you love the characters.
I decided to open these today @AmyG so I could get them packed. I‘ll be at my new home in less than a week now!
Thank you my sweet friend, these books will be enjoyed and I love the bookmarks. Sending big holiday hugs. 🥰
pickMaggie O‘Farrell writes beautifully expressive lines throughout the book. Pages 217-233 are profoundly moving and hard… to forget. Pages 140-151 illustrates how The Plague traveled from one place to, in this case, specifically Stratford, England. The dominoes all had to fall into place to facilitate The Spread. And, the historical research is solid. ✔️
pickMaggie O‘Farrell‘s historical fiction books are a joy and a wonder. I finally got my turn with this one after the longest library hold wait time ever. It was worth the wait and I loved every minute of this look at Shakespeare‘s life and times through the eyes of his family. Just a beautiful read!
bailedI wanted to love this book but it‘s so relentlessly sad and slow that I couldn‘t spend any more time with it.
so-soThis novel was slow. But meaningful. The switching between timelines added context but definitely bogged down the first “half” (read 3/4ths) of the novel, esp given the focal aspect is Hamlet/Hamnet, his death, and the ripple effect of grief on the rest of his family. I think it‘s worth pulling through, but it is indeed a slow go. #AuthorAMonth
pickI really enjoyed this fictional account of the life of Shakespeare and the death of his son Hamnet. This book is told in a few timelines. The most interesting is of Shakespeare's wife, Agnes, who is presented as a healer or witch.
Warning: this story is quite tragic and the last 4 hrs or so may cause crying, grief and wanting to strangle a number of men in the book 😿
#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
#Pantone2023 #Macchiato @Clwojick
pickI had high expectations because I loved reading The Marriage Portrait. However, I found this one slow to start and uneven at times. I had so much trouble following all the characters that I had to look for a list of them to help me keep up. Nevertheless, parts of the book were so compelling I couldn‘t put it down. My favorite part of the book was following the journey of the flea that brought the Plague—fascinating!
#authoramonth @Soubhiville
This was intense and so so good! Read for #authoramonth with @Soubhiville
pickI loved this so much and honestly never would have read it if it wasn't for #authoramonth @Soubhiville
pickThis book is a fictional account of the death of Shakespeare‘s son Hamnet and how it inspired his play, Hamlet. Clear from the beginning, O‘Farrell is an exquisite writer. It was a sheer pleasure immersing myself in her writing like a warm blanket. Until Hamnet died; then the book felt endless as the family copes with the pain of it. I had to put the book down for days. O‘Farrell also has a penchant for lists, which became a bit much. And, ⬇️
I finished both books last night & I learned a valuable lesson: not to read 2 books by the same author at the same time. I‘d never read anything by her before and her writing can be exquisite. But little things about her style that bug me, and wouldn‘t be too much of an issue, are compounded when it happens in both books. Then it‘s just irritating. O‘Farrell likes to list things. Sometimes I felt I was reading shopping lists! #authoramonth
pickI saved this book from my #AuldLangSpine list (thanks again, @jhod !) knowing O‘Farrell was July‘s #authoramonth pick bc I knew it might be devastating.
It did not disappoint! I won‘t lie, parts dragged & others felt oddly anachronistic? Maybe? In tone, but that ending!!! And the way O‘Farrell seemlessly pulls in/references theories about Shakespeare were awe-inspiring. Would anyone want to do a Shakespeare readalong? I‘m finding myself inspired!
