UWS Book Group, Third Edition! HAMNET by Maggie 0’Farrell

O’Farrell’s brilliantly imagined novel is literary fiction with exquisite writing. Set in 1580s Warwickshire, England, it tells the story of William Shakespeare, his wife, Agnes, and their three children. Their only son, Hamnet dies, possibly of the plague, and the novel explores Agnes’ grief, as well as Shakespeare’s, though as a character, he is rarely part of the story. The historical details of the time are well presented, plus Agnes is an intelligent and eccentric woman and totally captivating. This novel is powerful, moving and impossible to put down. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Prize for Fiction