“Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell
Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet is about the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet. A twin who died due to the plague. It is told from the grieving mother, twin sister and grandmother’s perspective. Shakespeare comes and goes through the novel but is never mentioned by name. Even though the novel is about the grieving family, it is utterly magnificent. I read it months ago. In fact as soon as the lockdown began in early April 2020. I could not put it down. It is an outstanding novel. I was delighted when it won the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 as it just seemed so perfect. It moved me so much that in all these months I have been unable to write about it on my blog. It is an emotional rollercoaster. Personally, I found it immensely healing to read during the pandemic. And then I heard an interview with pianist Vladmir Ashkenazy recorded in 1972 discussing Beethoven. Ashkenazy said, “It is no good to describe it. it always degrades music as great like this. You better leave it alone.” This is how I felt upon reading Hamnet. No point in describing it. Just experience it. Treasure it. Hold it dear.
Here is an utterly stunning passage from the concluding pages that made my heart sing with hope and joy given the horrendous pandemic we are living through:
Gardens don’t stand still: they are always in flux. The apple trees stretch out their limbs until their crowns reach higher than the wall. The pear trees fruit the first year, but not the second, then again the third. The marigolds unfold their bright petals, unfailingly every year, and the bee leave their skeps to skim over the carpet of blooms, dipping into and out of the petals. The lavender bushes in the knot garden grow leggy and woody, but Agnes will not pull them up; she cuts them back, saving the stems, her hands heavy with fragrance.
30 September 2020
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