Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell is the story of the death of a beloved son and the grief of his siblings and parents. The novel takes place in the 1500’s but it could as easily be now. Grief knows no time or place, of better said, knows every time or place. Hamnet will the book everyone reads this summer of 2021 

We know that Hamnet will die – that is the premise of the novel but it takes some time to get there.

We meet Hamnet on the first page – he is seeking his mother – his aunt – his grandmother – his older sister. Where are they? His twin sister, Judith is ill. He needs them.

In the next chapter, fifteen years earlier, we meet the man who will become Hamnet’s father. He is young, tutoring the younger sons of a farmer. There he will meet the woman who will become Hamnet’s mother. She is an exceptional woman, and she recognizes that her husband is as well. Though no one else seems to think he is more than a clumsy boy from a less than distinguished family.

Chapters alternate between the earlier and later times, until they come together on the day of Hamnet’s death. And will then continue to tell the story of the years that follow.

This is a novel beyond brilliant in every way. The writing crisp and clear and flawless. The story told with compassion and clarity. The chapter that describes the coming of the plague to England is riveting – beginning in a glassblower’s shop in Venice, to a flea in a market in Alexandria, to a monkey, to a midshipman – to cats on the ship. The death of the cats a mystery. The death of the midshipman to “Afric fever”, and then the deaths of so many more sailors who die before the ship arrives in England with its cargo, disbursed across the land. 

The passages about the death of Hamnet, and the days after his death are harrowing to read – the raw passion is palpable and written from the heart. We follow the mother and father, and siblings through the early years of their mourning, as they each find ways to continue to live in this world without their beloved son and brother.

Hamnet will be the  book everyone will read – and weep over – this summer.