Shakespeare, & the Importance of Bookshops



Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell


published 2020









I finished this book on the date generally assigned to William Shakespeare’s birthday and deathday – 23rd April, sitting outside in beautiful sunshine, living in lockdown at a time of great crisis. The book deals with – among many other things – the effects of plague, the fears and horrors it brings with it, the grief it leaves behind.


It was a wonderful book to be reading right then.


I read the final 50 pages quite fast, because I was enjoying it so much and wanted to know what happened. After I’d finished it, I thought about it a lot, and realized that I didn’t really get the ending, found it a little unsatisfactory: so I went back and read the final 50 pages again, and realized it was entirely my own fault – I had read too fast and didn’t truly take in what O’Farrell and her heroine were thinking and saying. It all made sense the second time round. (I don’t believe in my long long history of reading a lot of books I have ever quite done that before.) (I should warn you crime readers - it's  not a plot twist or revelation, just a question of paying attention!)



This is a historical novel about Shakespeare’s family: the wife and three children that he left behind in Stratford-upon-Avon, while he lived in London making his fortune as a player and playwright. Eventually he retired from the stage and went back to Stratford, and lived out his life as a respectable and very well-off businessman. But by that time he only had two children – this book is about (and this is not in any way a spoiler) the death of his son Hamnet at the age of 11.

Maggie O’Farrell says she had long been fascinated by the knowledge that Shakespeare had lost his only son in this way, and had then a few years later created a play and a character, Hamlet, with a name that was as good as identical – she says the two names were treated interchangeably at the time.

It's not known how Hamnet Shakespeare died, but O’Farrell has supposed plague, and so by chance her book has taken on an unexpected relevance, something she can’t have predicted.

Very little is known about Shakespeare’s family, so she was free to make it up: this isn’t a historical novel in the way Hilary Mantel wrote about Thomas Cromwell. The popular version of Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway, is that she was an unfortunate early mistake – it was a ‘starter’ marriage, entered into only because a baby was on the way. She was eight years older than him.

O’Farrell has re-invented or reclaimed her: she is Agnes, for a start, not Anne, and the author has built a fascinating backstory for her, and given her an amazing and absolutely lovely character. She is very much a 16th century countrywoman, but the best thing about her is that she totally reminded me of people I knew – I could picture her as a 21st century friend, someone who was a bit weird, a bit hippyish, didn’t care how she looked, went her own way, had various counterculturish beliefs, and a kind heart. I loved her, and I think anyone reading the book will do the same.

Hamnet is an enchantment of a book, and ideal reading for right now.

It is also a beautifully produced book, and my particular copy is even better: it is signed by O’Farrell, and is a special independent bookshop edition. I often do use Amazon to buy books (when I lived in Seattle it was a small local startup after all) but like many people I recognize that Amazon don’t need me but small bookshops do. So I have been trying to use the indies, and have struck up a friendship with one nowhere near me, and it only occurred to me AFTER I had read the book how very appropriate this was: Warwick Books is in Warwickshire, the same county as Shakespeare’s Stratford, and less than 10 miles from there.

I have ordered a list of books from them (talk about virtue signalling) and they are sending them to me as they come in. I’m not in the business of telling anyone else what they should do, but supporting an indie bookshop is certainly is a way to get a good feeling as well as something lovely to read. Warwick Books is at http://www.warwickbooks.net/ and their email address is info@warwickbooks.net

I wrote about Hamlet as a source for crime book titles in the Guardian newspaper, and wrote about the play itself in another entry. There are a lot of other references to Hamlet on the blog, one way and another.




There are two pictures that actually claim to show Shakespeare – the one at the top is much the nicer, but has the lesser claim, it’s just that we all want him to look like this. And - of course - there are no pictures of his wife.

Second picture, from NYPL, shows  actress Diane Venora as Hamlet in a scene from the 1982 New York Shakespeare Festival production.

I have seen many actors play Hamlet, and the best was Andrew Scott, third picture.

Maggie O’Farrell’s Instructions for a Heatwave is on the blog here.

 

Comments

  1. What an interesting take on Shakespeare, Moira! There's so much about his life that we don't actually know, that there's plenty of room for speculation, and that's where a skilled author can come in. And yes, bookshops need us - especially those small, indie shops. Thank you for the reminder.

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    1. Thanks Margot. I admired O'Farrell for taking what might be a well-worn subject (and one where the actual facts are limited) and making something so creative about it.

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  2. I also just read and loved this book! Felt that Agnes was so real and that the depiction of grief (and of the transference of grief into fiction) was utterly brilliant. Quite envious of your lovely edition as I read it on my phone which is really not the same.
    The Hamlet I would have to love to have seen was Ben Wishaw's.

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    1. Transference not exactly what I mean. More like translation, maybe. Anyway, it was powerful stuff. Just downloaded I Am, I Am, I Am and will be looking further into her backlist.

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    2. Yes, I knew what you meant! And often I am a great one for Kindle, so I lucked out choosing hard copy for this one.
      So glad you loved it too. She made the character so real, I loved them.

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    3. Didn't see Wishaw's Hamlet, but did see him in real life in a restaurant not that long ago! He is marvellous, a great actor.

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  3. Moira: I am glad that the ending of Hamnet was not much ado about nothing.

    It sounds like a fine book. I shall keep an eye out for it.

    I love independent bookstores. I have never ordered a book from Amazon..I have no plans to order any.

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    1. Love your pun Bill! And good for you with the bookshops. I must work harder at this myself...

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  4. I think I'd like to read this but Upstart Crow might get in the way? Mrs Shakespeare will forever look like Lisa Tarbuck to me. Although it's a funny series, which I loved, the episode featuring the death of Hamnet was very touchingly done.

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    1. I have never seen the series, though have heard good things. And we have all seen so many representations of Shakespeare, one way and another, that it is particularly admirable of O'Farrell to do something so different.

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  5. Not terribly keen on historical fiction, but this does sound good. Oh, I wish I had seen Andrew Scott as Hamlet. I saw a live streaming of Private Lives back before lockdown and he was brilliant.

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    1. This is really annoying of me, but I saw him live again - that was Present Laughter, is that maybe what you saw? Noel Coward at the Old Vic. It was so enjoyable, he is such a charismatic actor, and it was the ideal role since every scene revolved round his larger-than-life character.

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    2. Yes, of course, Present Laughter! Not as good as seeing it live, but still pretty good - enormous screen and I was sitting right at the front - I almost felt as if I was on screen. Yes, a perfect role for him.

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    3. Sorry, should have said 'on stage.'

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    4. Knew what you meant ;) - and he really is larger than life, I think he is going to be one of our great actors for a long time, look forward to seeing what he does next. I love that he was also in the recent film of Swallows and Amazons...

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  6. This is exactly the kind of book I am drawn to when I'm not inundating myself with the obscure murder mysteries I have become obsessed with. Thanks so much for highlighting it. I'll have to get a copy form my own go-to independent bookstore here in Chicago. And thanks also for the link to the article about Hamlet as an inspiration for crime fiction writers. You must have loads of books to talk about for that. How did you ever pare it down to just a few? (I'll be finding out just which ones you chose right after I send this comment.) That article reminds me that I've wanted to do something similar for John Webster and his play The Duchess of Malfi for quite some time.

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    1. Yes, it was quite remarkable once you start looking at Hamlet, every couple of lines there's another crime title! But there's still a few lines left - I think in the article I suggest a few so-far-unclaimed titles that I think would be excellent. Of course, John, your are quite likely to be the only person to know that there WAS an obscure book of that name published in 1938...

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  7. This definitely sounds worth reading. I might wait a while though.

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    1. It will be just as good in a year or two Tracy!

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