As other have remarked, reading this book during the time of Covid 19 gives it an immediacy it couldn't have claimed in 'normal' times. This is story of a family, and how they cope with the death of one of its members, 11 year old twin Hamnet. It's particularly the story of Agnes, mother to Hamnet and wife of the man who's never mentioned by name, Shakespeare: and largely told by alternating the narrative between the time of Agnes' courtship, and the period during which their three children begin to grow, and Shakespeare moves to London. Reading the book, I was immersed in understanding the day-to-day business of bringing up an extended family, of small town life, and later, when Hamnet dies of the plague, of grief the which affects the characters in different ways. I relished the side-stories - understanding how the plague came to Europe for instance.
This is an involving story of love and loss which commanded my complete involvement while I was reading it. ( )

I read it. It was fine, but the sentences were all very short, a sort of skimming of a story which didn’t slow for any one character to be really felt.

Shakespeare as a Family Man?

I enjoyed this imagining of Shakespeare as a husband and father. The author takes what is known about Shakespeare's family and builds a backstory for his life. In doing so, O'Farrell puts Shakespeare in the background. The story mostly focuses on his wife and to a lesser extent, his children.
One of the main themes are independence, for Shakespeare, this means getting out from under his father's thumb. For Agnes, it means keeping her mother's traditions as a healer. Another very important theme is loss and grief...as both Shakespeare and Agnes both struggle with the loss of Hamnet.
4 stars: The only criticism of the story is the portrayal of Agnes as a proto feminist nature healer. While it did added to the theme of independence, this trope is over used. ( )

O'Farrell seems to pick just the right words for everything in this book. She truly draws you into this world of 16th Century England and the dealings of the bard's family. She never uses his name, which took me a minute to get used to ... but once I did, I was in. I get it, it's not a story about him, it's about his family and one tragic incident. Note: this is a work of fiction based on some scant historical details. At any rate, this is a beautiful story that was compelling, heart-breaking, and just lovely all at the same time. ( )

This novel was at the top of my reading list for quite a while, but I was reluctant to start reading it. Something about it being about Shakespeare (even if his role in this is not central) created a certain expectation that was putting me off. It proved to be completely wrong.

This was such an enjoyable book in a literary sense (emotionally, it was gut-wrenching).
The words flew off the pages so naturally. For a story centred around grief (with some extraordinary passages on it), there was a strange fairytale-like lightness to it.

The character of Agnes was written especially well. I loved the way certain things were portrayed with a touch of almost magical realism. It helped transport me back in time. But, unlike "regular" historical fiction, where the setting rules over everything else, this is a universal story of loss. Having a famous historical figure among the characters, unnamed, just made it more intriguing.


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