Hamnet is a novel by Maggie O’Farrell about the family of Shakespeare as imagined by the author. Hamnet was the son of Shakespeare who died as a teenager. However, while Hamnet gets some ink, I thought the story was primarily about and told from the point of view of Shakespeare’s wife, Anne (or Agnes, as her father called her and as the author calls her in this story). “I have tried to stick to the scant historical facts known about the real Hamnet and his family” the author’s note says, but this is a work of fiction, not history, with personalities and plots invented by the author. The character Agnes is witchlike and empathic, curing people with herbs and able to see the future, including the artistic vision of her husband. The characters and the description of the times are interesting. The prose is skillful. This author knows what she’s doing and has won awards for other books she has published. Here’s what Kirkus Reviews says:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/maggie-ofarrell-1/hamnet/
