Contemporary Female Authors: Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell

Maggie O'Farrell's novel Hamnet was a massive international bestseller and a critical triumph. Published during Covid in 2020, its account of the tragic death of Wiliam Shakespeare's son Hamnet at the age of 11 is profoundly moving. O'Farrell was very clear that it is a work of fiction. In the book, Hamnet's twin sister Judith is perilously ill with the plague, but Hamnet finds himself able to swap places with her, and die so that she might live. Shakespeare and his wife Agnes live more or less separate lives - he in London and she in Stratford. In O'Farrell's version, she has a semi spiritual connection with nature and the forest, and understands how to use herbs and plants for medicinal purposes. Shakespeare's father John is a damaged and violent man. And in the novel, Shakespeare writes Hamlet partially as an act of atonement for his guilt at being absent as a father and a husband. How much of this is true? Does it matter if it's not? Is O'Farrell's writing uniquely brilliant and descriptive, or is it the product of too many creative writing courses? And what on earth is rue? Join us on Book In as we look at this hugely popular book. Georgie Fordham is the reader.