Hamnet

Synopsis: Welcome to an imagined backstory to one of the most famous plays in the English language. The death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet from bubonic plague is the central event of this novel. The novel follows the relationship of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes as they deal with their grief over the death of their son and the rising arc of Shakespeare’s career. In the end, Will writes the play Hamlet as a farewell to his son—not a spoiler to point out it’s a play where the father dies instead of the son and the ghost’s final line is “Remember me.”

Review: I was completely engrossed by this fictional account of Shakespeare and his wife. While Shakespeare is probably the most famous playwright in history, very little is known about his life, so there’s pretty much free reign to make up what you want. Maggie O’Farrell made good use of that in her brilliant story telling of how a child’s death devastates the entire family. The novel centers much more on Agnes than Will, plumbing some serious emotional depth regarding maternal love and grief. While completely coincidental, I think the current pandemic also is referenced in the passages about how the plague travelled from place to place, spread quickly and took many lives in the process. People process their grief differently, and the friction created in that process is well described here.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: Several pivotal scenes take place in the apple storage shed of Agnes’ home: a first kiss, later followed by the conception of Will and Agnes’ first child! Thinking about how the apples were stored to keep them as fresh as possible made me think of my mom’s apple cake, one of my childhood favorites.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon apple pie spice

3 cups flour

3 cups fresh peeled and diced apples

1 cup golden raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts

1) Mix oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla

2) Combine dry ingredients

3) Mix dry ingredients into the egg mixture

4) Fold in apples, raisins and walnuts

5) Pour into greased and floured Bundt pan

6) Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees until it tests done.