#BlogTour: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell @PublicityBooks @headlinepg @annecater #Hamnet #MaggieOFarrell #randomthingstours #5stars #mustread

Book Synopsis:

TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.

On a summer’s day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?

Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that one of the children will not survive the week.

Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright. It is a story of the bond between twins, and of a marriage pushed to the brink by grief. It is also the story of a kestrel and its mistress; flea that boards a ship in Alexandria; and a glovemaker’s son who flouts convention in pursuit of the woman he loves. Above all, it is a tender and unforgettable reimagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

Hamnet is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

This was an absolutely exceptional, emotional book that was simply a stunning read.

I’ve always loved books which involve taking an actual historical character and making an alternative story with them so this book instantly appealed to me. Everyone knows who Shakespeare is but not much is known about his wife, known to the world as Anne Hathaway but whose actually name was Agnes! Here the author gives the reader a glimpse into the life of the woman she might have been, subtly giving explanations for some of the rumours that exist about her. I found I really liked Agnes who came across as warm, capable woman who had a lot of love for her kids.

The author does a fantastic job of making everyday life in Tudor times come to life. I really enjoyed learning more about the period, especially the roles a woman were meant to take on within the home and the skills they were meant to have. It was interesting to see the difference in the daily routines between a town person and someone living in the country. The weird and ineffective ways that doctors of the time tried to treat the plague was very eye opening and made me realise how far medicine has come.

This isn’t a particularly fast paced book but it is an incredibly compelling read which will quickly draw you into the story. Having read some of the other reviews my understanding is that there are some very clever hidden meanings behind the writing and the way the book is written which I think must have gone over my head. Please don’t be put off by this as I thought it was still an amazing story in its own right without realising this. It’s a fabulous piece of historical fiction and one I’ll be recommending to everyone.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Georgina from Midas publicity for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Born in Northern Ireland in 1972, MAGGIE O’FARRELL grew up in Wales and Scotland and now lives in London. She has worked as a waitress, chambermaid, bike messenger, teacher, arts administrator, journalist (in Hong Kong and London), and as the deputy literary editor of The Independent on Sunday. She is the author of After You’d Gone (winner of the Betty Trask Award); My Lover’s Lover; The Distance Between Us (recipient of a Somerset Maugham Award); The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox; The Hand That First Held Mine; Instructions for a Heatwave (winner of a Costa Book Award); This Must Be the Place; and most recently, I Am, I Am, I Am.