February Book Recommendation

Books-turned-movies are never perfect, but there have been some excellent film adaptations of great books, including one of this year’s Oscar contenders. Ham

net, based on the book by Maggie O’Farrell, tells the story of Shakespeare and his wife Anne (or Agnes) Hathaway as they grapple with the loss of their 11-year-old son, and its influence on his most famous play.  

Agnes is an eccentric woman known for her unusual gifts as a healer and herbalist. She can read people’s natures and sees the abilities within her young husband Will that are being smothered as a reluctant Latin tutor and inept participant in his father’s glove trade in Stratford. She encourages his creative path to London and hopes to follow him with the rest of their family, but for the ill health of their daughter Judith, twin to Hamnet. When Judith’s mysterious illness transfers unexpectedly to Hamnet, everything in their world changes. This book raises ideas of destiny and grief and tells a moving, complex story of a marriage in the midst of the worst type of loss. 

Similar themes can be found in Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, telling the story of Abraham Lincoln’s grief over the death of his 11-year-old son in sublimely literary style. If the Shakespearian element appeals, you may like Hag-Seedby Margaret Atwood, a retelling of his play The Tempest. You can request these books at the library in print, digital, or audio formats, or go online to find them through our catalogue: http://library.brucecounty.on.ca/