I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book, though I can’t remember from who or what were the good things, so I was really excited to dive into this book. Because of my rather bad memory, I dove into this with a positive impression but completely no expectations about how things would go.

But wow, Hamnet really took my breath away!

Hamnet is the story of Agnes (more popularly known as Anne) Hathaway and two of her children – Hamnet and Judith. The story starts with Judith being seriously ill and then slips between the past and present as we see how Shakespeare and Agnes fall in love and how Hamnet’s death (this is not a spoiler, it’s on the synopsis) breaks their family.

The strength of the book is the writing. It’s in present tense, which tends to be very hit-and-miss for me, but I thought the present tense really worked. If I had to describe the writing in one word, it would be ‘fluid’ because the story slips between past and present, between Hamnet and Agnes and Judith and Shakespeare. It’s intimate and lyrical and I’m pretty sure I love the book for the writing.

The characters here are fascinating, if a little stagnant. Despite the book’s title, I think Agnes is the true protagonist of the story. She is wild and mystical and I can see why this Shakespeare fell in love with her. I didn’t really see much character growth from any of the characters, but I didn’t really mind this while I was reading the book – it’s just something I noticed when I tried to remember what happened as I write this review.

Overall, I found this an excellent book! I don’t think it’s for everyone – I loved the writing but I can see why someone else would hate it, but it was such a beautiful and immersive work for me.