Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet appeared on dozens of Best Books lists after it was released, including The Best Books of 2020 from The New York Times. The Iron Book Discussion Group will read this “full-blooded” story of Shakespeare and his family in January 2024.
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BOOK DESCRIPTION: Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley Street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.
Award-winning author Maggie O’Farrell’s new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history.
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Copies of Hamnet can be picked up from the Book Discussion Shelf on our first floor, and it’s available digitally as an ebook (through Overdrive/Libby) and an audiobook (through Overdrive/Libby).
An in-person discussion of Hamnet will be held at the library on Tuesday, January 9, at 7:00 PM. No registration is required to attend.
And an online discussion of the book will be held via Zoom on Thursday, January 11, at 3:00 PM. If you’d like to attend the online discussion, please register through our Event Calendar. Participants will receive an email with the login information for Zoom after registering.
Published on December 13, 2023.
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