At first glance, some readers might assume that the title of this book is a typo and that it is actually some sort of modern updating or possibly a feminist reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy about that guy who goes around contemplating to be or not to be. Interestingly enough, Shakespeare’s son was named Hamnet rather than Hamlet.
Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel Hamnet is not a typo. This is not a story about Hamlet, but it is a story about Shakespeare’s son. Pour all this information into a stew pot, let it simmer on the heat of O’Farrell’s reputation, and what finally gets served is one of the most critically acclaimed novels of the year. O’Farrell added the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and the Dalkey Literary Award for Novel of the Year to her already cluttered trophy case. In addition, Hamnet made the shortlist of contenders for several other prestigious awards.
So, what’s the deal with Shakespeare’s kid with the name that sounds suspiciously like his most famous character? In a word: tragedy. Hamnet left this world about five years—more or less—before Hamlet entered it. The only son produced by the union of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway became, at the tender age of eleven, just another of the countless thousands lost to one of the multiple waves of the bubonic plague terrorizing Europe throughout the century. Aside from his birth and death, little historical information is actually known about Hamnet or his influence on his father’s writing of the similar-sounding tragedy. This, of course, is the ideal situation for a modern writer looking for inspiration. This is a novel, after all, and not a biography and as such, the author takes full advantage of the enormous liberties at her disposal to create what fits her vision rather than being shackled by the accounts of historical fact.
In the summer of 2021, it was announced that a co-production team that include Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners had entered into a deal for Oscar-winner Sam Mendes to co-produce a big screen adaptation of Hamnet from a script to be written by Chiara Atik. Atik was best-known at the time for being story editor on the TV sitcom Superstore. As of early 2020 no new movement forward in production had yet been announced.
