Numbers 29/30- Hamnet- Maggie O'Farrell/The Thoughts of Chairman Miaow- Andrew Davies

 This month's book group read was this historical novel based around the short life of Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, after whom the play was of course named.

Historical fiction is not normally in my comfort zone.  Too much of it feels dry and tedious with the author showing off their research over the plot.

This however is a pure character piece that follows Hamnet and his mother Agnes (pronounces Annyis) over the days leading up to the tragedy, and the aftermath.

As the book opens, Hamnet is desperately trying to find help because his twin sister is ill. Agnes is off in her herb garden a mile away and the house is otherwise empty. 

The chapters in the first section alternate between the days where the children are ill, and flashback chapters to the initial meeting and subsequent courtship and marriage of Agnes and the unnamed young Latin tutor. 

 It's an odd stylistic choice to never call William Shakespeare by name, but one that works for me.

One comment made at the book group was that Hamnet is the wrong title since the book is much more centred on Agnes. I'm not sure I agree because the central event of the book is obviously his tragically foreshortened life. 

The style of writing is excellent. It drops you right in the head of the character she's following at the time.  We get to know and love these people deeply. Agnes is a complex and quite mysterious character.  The prose flows smoothly, long sumptuous descriptions, beautifully detailed, but after the tragedy, it breaks into short paragraphs indicative of the broken nature of their world.

I thought it was stunningly written and was sad when it ended.  i don't think I can pay much greater a compliment. I will certainly be reading more by O'Farrell 

This is a bit of fun that I read to try to come up/down from the emotional trauma inflicted by Hamnet.

lots of pictures of cats in uniform with pithy communist slogans translated to feline. For example "Wise is the man who has two loaves and sells one to buy a squeaky mouse"

You could say it's a Commiaownist manifesto.

There's not much else to say about it.  It was amusing and I always love pictures of cats. If these couple of lines about it have made you smile, it's probably your type of book.