Rating: 4.00 (1 ratings)
First published 2020
Agnes walks the countryside with a falcon perched on her shoulder, known for her healing powers with plants and potions. She marries a young Latin tutor from Stratford, a penniless man bullied by his violent father but blessed with emerging gifts as a writer. Together they build a life on Henley Street, where Agnes becomes a fierce mother protecting their children. When bubonic plague strikes their eleven-year-old son Hamnet, Agnes must confront the limits of her healing abilities. Her husband watches helplessly as disease ravages their family. The loss transforms their marriage and drives the writer toward creating his greatest work. O'Farrell recreates the intimate world behind Shakespeare's most famous tragedy, showing how personal grief births artistic triumph. This novel follows a family destroyed and remade by loss, centering on Agnes as she navigates motherhood, marriage, and the devastating powerlessness that comes when her knowledge of remedies fails against plague.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical, historical-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, grief
Setting: Stratford, Henley Street
Period: plague
310 pages · Hardcover · Alfred A. Knopf
Content warnings: death