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ClareR (5721 KP) rated Hamnet in Books

Sep 26, 2020  
Hamnet
Hamnet
Maggie O'Farrell | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.4 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
I think this has probably made it to the top of my favourite books of the year. How can this possibly be topped by anything else?

Hamnet is an imagining of what could have happened to Shakespeare’s son - even in the parish records it doesn’t say what his cause of death was. Maggie O’Farrell makes this version completely plausible though: plague should have been a real threat at this time. It killed indiscriminately: young and old, rich and poor, weak and strong. They were all vulnerable to illnesses with no cures. I’m something of an emotional reader at the best of times, but as Agnes, Hamnet’s mother, was preparing her son for burial, I was crying in to my breakfast. My 16 year old son looked at me over the top of his bacon butty and said:”Another sad bookthen, Mum?”, and shook his head. To read of a mother and her dead son, and see my 13 and 16 year old sons merrily tucking in to their bacon sandwiches, may not have been the ideal time to be reading this.

This is the kind of book that makes you really look at how precarious life was in those times, and how lucky we are today to have so few worries on this scale (Covid-19 aside!).

The writing is so beautiful, so descriptive and emotive: it picks you up and sets you down squarely in Elizabethan Stratford, making you feel exactly how Agnes must have felt. Honestly, it broke my heart to read of her pain.

If you haven’t read this yet, you’re in for a treat. This deserves ALL the awards.
  
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ClareR (5721 KP) rated Execution in Books

Jul 26, 2020  
Execution
Execution
S.J. Parris | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics, Thriller
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Execution is the sixth book set in Elizabethan world of Giordano Bruno. I have read the first book in this series, so it was definitely on my radar, but as so often happens with me, I got distracted by other books 🤯
The fact that I haven’t (yet) read books 2-5 has made no difference at all to my great reading enjoyment, so this can be read as a one off (but why would you do that? Books 1 and 6 are fab, so I’ll be reading books 2-5 without a doubt).

Bruno is working undercover for Elizabeth I’s spymaster, Francis Walsingham, and they hope to stop what becomes known as The Babington Plot - a plot to kill Elizabeth I, break Mary Queen of Scots out of prison and put her on England’s throne instead. This is all about Elizabeth’s claim to be queen. Henry VIII has disowned her as illegitimate when Anne was beheaded, and she was a Protestant to boot! Babington and his crew are staunch catholics, and they want a catholic on the throne. Mary fits the bill.

Francis Walsingham is desperate to find an excuse to dispose of Mary, and Babington is providing the goods. There is a secret letter exchange going on between the plotters and that Walsingham knows about, but he needs to catch them in the act - and he needs to ensure that Mary implicates herself completely.

This is all historical fact, as is Bruno’s existence, and I think that’s what puts the icing on the cake for me. I love historical fiction that brings real characters to life on the page. Bruno is a great character - he’s intelligent, funny and emotional. Basically, he’s a great character to build a story around.

So much research must have gone in to this book, and I really appreciate that. The side characters add couloir and substance to the whole story.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book, and I’ve now given myself the rather enjoyable task of catching up with Bruno!