Boundless Press | Hamnet

Hamnet

Maggie O'Farrell

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NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of The Marriage Portrait delivers a luminous portrait of a marriage, a family ravaged by grief, and a boy whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays of all time.

“Of all the stories that argue and speculate about Shakespeare’s life ... here is a novel ... so gorgeously written that it transports you." —The Boston Globe

England, 1580: The Black Death creeps across the land, an ever-present threat, infecting the healthy, the sick, the old and the young alike. The end of days is near, but life always goes on.

A young Latin tutor—penniless and bullied by a violent father—falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman. Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family’s land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people.

Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is just taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever.

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Posts about this title from Boundless Press

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Feb 6 2023

what i read in january | yellowface, hell bent, tomorrow x 3, love on the brain

Let me know what y'all thought of these books! who's excited for YELLOWFACE? 👀

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🤍 timestamps ↳ 0:00 Opening thoughts ↳ 2:54 ⭐️⭐️.5 star reads ↳ 5:57 ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 star reads ↳ 11:30 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star reads ↳ 17:01 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 star reads ↳ 21:34 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star reads ↳ 39:42 Final thoughts

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11 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Jan 17 2023

reading booktubers' favourite books of 2022

The five booktubers I read from and their favourites videos: @chandlerainsley : https://youtu.be/J-pK5kpzUX8 @caricanread : https://youtu.be/C7qAyjTsSsk @NoelleGallagher : https://youtu.be/Jmd3ieDmmxg @gabbyreads : https://youtu.be/siMLTJ-LQhk @PeruseProject : https://youtu.be/B9SfYr77\_K4

Other "reading booktubers' favourites" videos you should check out: Sarahwithoutanh: https://youtu.be/dtPKbnp9bmE Booksandlala: https://youtu.be/YpUfxGo0vNM MelReads: https://youtu.be/gCAAEpMYUME RileyMarie: https://youtu.be/7ByA72gF\_dY

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🤍 timestamps ↳ 0:00 intro ↳ 5:40 love on the brain ↳ 13:33 tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow ↳ 27:27 crying in h mart ↳ 33:41 daisy darker ↳ 43:06 hamnet ↳ 50:05 final thoughts

💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com

faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? - my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nah-nee (like a knee!)

🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? - both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada!

🤍 what is your job? - aside from youtube I also work in product marketing!

5 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Nov 7 2022

AN AMBITIOUS END OF THE YEAR TBR | November + December TBR

Use the code CANADA to get your first Book of the Month box for only $9.99 https://www.bookofthemonth.com/?utm\_source=youtube&utm\_medium=video&utm\_campaign=This\_Story\_Ain%27t\_Over

🤍 timestamps ↳ 0:00 My Reading Progress so far this year ↳ 2:51 Current Reads ↳ 5:48 Read in Colour Book Club Picks + Update ↳ 7:41 New Releases ↳ 11:35 A Couple Sci-Fis ↳ 12:23 Spooky Books I haven’t gotten to yet ↳ 18:25 Emily St. John Mandel Books ↳ 19:21 Some books that have been on my tbr for awhile ↳ 23:03 Shyam Selvadurai Books ↳ 24:02 Recent additions to my tar ↳ 27:10 Final Thoughts + What I’m Up to this month

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💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com

faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? - my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nah-nee (like a knee!)

🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? - both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada!

🤍 what is your job? - aside from youtube I also work in product marketing!

42 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Casey the Reader\ \ Casey\ \ • Jul 15

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Waaaughhh how is this year half over already?! These are my 11 faves so far (yes, 11, I could absolutely not narrow it down any further than that)! They're in no particular order, and I've popped in my mini reviews for each just in case you missed them the first time around. Books marked with a * are books that were gifted to me.\ \ Shapes of Love by L.V. Peñalba* - SHAPES OF LOVE is my new favorite book featuring an aspec character. This book so beautifully covers the many nuances of aromantic and asexual identities and the various forms their close relationships can take. I really loved how Sasha pushed hard against the idea that friend love can’t be as meaningful and important as romantic love. The book lets her make some mistakes around that belief as well, which I liked. Everyone in this book makes mistakes, learns, and has complex conversations about it all. The characters are racially diverse as well, adding yet another layer to the complexity of coming out. \ \ Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell - This is the most devastating book I've read in years. Just absolutely a tear your hair out and lay on the floor crying kind of book. I didn't want to keep reading it but I also couldn't stop reading it. Somehow, it feels like the events of the book are happening to you as you read it. I particularly loved how it both mattered and didn't matter at all that Agnes' husband was William Shakespeare. Who cares, when you're that in the depths of grief? Agnes' touch of the supernatural also added another beautiful, painful layer to her story. I think I can say I've never quite met a character like Agnes.\ \ This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman - How does this series get exponentially better with every book? Also, sorry to my spouse for the high levels of stress I radiated while reading THIS INEVITABLE RUIN. \ \ There Is No Place For Us by Brian Goldstone* - THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US shines a light on a population that usually gets entirely ignored. These families are working their butts off, only to get slapped down again and again. Goldstone is great at weaving statistics and research in with the individual stories in a way that contextualizes and humanizes them. One thing I haven’t seen discussed about this book is that four of the five families are headed by single moms. Of those four moms, for three of them, the road to being unhoused began with an abusive husband, boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend. \ \ A Sharp Endless Need by Mac Crane* - You know when you read a book and you can’t form words for how you feel about it? Yeah, that’s A SHARP ENDLESS NEED. Crane is so good at writing painful longing. Add in being unsure of your sexuality in a small town, and whew. The longing is so intense it’s hard to look at straight on. My one knock-a-quarter-star-off-quibble is that the ending feels kind of like a throwback. That’s all I’ll say to avoid spoilers. Honestly, I can’t write any more about this. It feels like I want to keep it secret so no one says mean things about it, but I also want the whole world to read it. \ \ Whidbey by T. Kira Madden* - We’ve waited a long time for new work from T Kira Madden, and wow, was WHIDBEY worth the wait. This book follows several women who are all impacted by the actions of one man. We see them through rage, grief, shame, defensiveness, love, fear. There’s a little bit of a mystery element to it, but it’s still deeply personal and introspective. Please look at the content warnings before reading. It’s a heavy book, but worth it if you’re up for it.\ \ Luminous by Silvia Park* - LUMINOUS is the kind of story that sci-fi is best at: what does it mean to be a human? To be a man? To love? To be loved? Siblings Jun and Morgan have both spent their lives trying to make sense of their childhood experience of having a robot brother who got taken away from them during the war the reunified Korea. Everyone in this book is deeply flawed, and trying to build relationships on a cracked foundation. My favorite thing, though, is that in this story of what makes a human (and a human man specifically) is that Jun is a trans man. It adds so many additional layers to what might otherwise be a straightforward robot tale. \ \ Kin by Tayari Jones* - My goodness, Tayari Jones is a master of her craft. KIN is so beautiful, loving, and heartbreaking. We follow Niecy and Annie’s story in a way that’s both about the details of their lives and the larger story of being a Black woman in the South. The women in this book all have taken different paths through life, but they have so much common experience as well. I haven’t seen it discussed much yet, but this is a queer story. I’m trying not to give plot away, but know that there are just so, so many layers to this book. I already want to reread it. \ \ The Maidenheads by Benny B. Peterson* - Listen. As a girl who grew up in the DC suburbs who was very into the local music scene and didn't understand her sexuality at the time...I AM IN THIS PHOTO AND I DON'T LIKE IT. But also, hell yeah. Johnson name checks all my favorite venues in DC and Baltimore and perfectly recreates the grimy love we all had for our local faves. The Maidenheads is messy and mean and full of yearning and good god please go to therapy, my guys. Everyone makes the worst decisions at every turn and I loved them for it.\ \ Searches by Vauhini Vara - I need everyone who uses the internet to read this book. Vara traces the path of her life and the life of the internet, how they overlap and interact, and increasingly, how they have become inseparable. There is so much to think about here regarding how much of our lives we have given over to tech companies, sometimes knowingly, sometimes not. Please read it! \ \ Hold Me Like A Grudge by Celine Ong* - Celine Ong said to herself, "how can I make sports enemies to lovers as gay as possible?" and HOLD ME LIKE A GRUDGE was born. I'm obsessed with everything about this book. Enemies/rivals/pining/coming out/found family/spicy chemistry/soft love/etc etc etc omg can I hug them please! Not to mention all the Supernatural, Fall Out Boy, and various other pop culture references that are hidden about oh so casually. And listen, I know everyone and their mom is going to compare this book to Heated Rivalry...but also it's true! If you're looking for more tender sports yearning, THIS IS IT.\ \ Join for free or login

2026 Mid-Year Favorites

11 books

Casey the Reader\ \ Casey\ \ • May 22

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Welcome to Friday Faves! Each week I plan to share my favorite book I read during the past week, as well as any other stuff I've been enjoying. I would also like to invite you all to join my Discord channel, where there's a place for you to share your own Friday Faves. Let's fill each others' lives with wonderful things!\ \ This week's fave read is a real "hey guys have you heard about this massively popular book??!" situation. It's HAMNET by Maggie O'Farrell.\ \ This is the most devastating book I've read in years. Just absolutely a tear your hair out and lay on the floor crying kind of book. I didn't want to keep reading it but I also couldn't stop reading it. Somehow, it feels like the events of the book are happening to you as you read it.\ \ I particularly loved how it both mattered and didn't matter at all that Agnes' husband was William Shakespeare. Who cares, when you're that in the depths of grief? Agnes' touch of the supernatural also added another beautiful, painful layer to her story. I think I can say I've never quite met a character like Agnes.\ \ A non-bookish fave thing for me recently is the video game Date Everything! I've been slowly playing this through over the past few months and it's so delightfully weird. It's a dating sim, but the twist is that the dateables are all of the objects in your house. It's silly, and punny, and voiced by all your favorite voice actors. \ \ Now, I invite you to share your Friday Faves in the Discord chat! See you there!

Friday Faves: May 22, 2026

1 book

Sydney in Books | Thrillers, Mysteries & More\ \ Sydney \ \ • May 4

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Quarterly Reading Wrap Up!

My first quarter, but make it extremely nerdy! Here is my Q1 Instagram Power Point!

How was the first few months of your year?

33 books

Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Jan 11

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My Academic Journey

The course of... well... coursework never did run smooth.

18 books

Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Sep 5 2025

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\ \ Join for free or login](https://marysmanybooks.binderybooks.com/item/biknuWTH7SwihQoOZwhv/)

After Hours & I finished my MA!

A little about grad school, my journey to getting here, what my experience was like, and a few of the things I studied. Yes, I do also touch on some of the books I enjoyed along the way.

5 books

Kirstyn's Bookshelf\ \ Kirstyn\ \ • Mar 31 2025

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7 Books I Regret Waiting to Read 📚

There is not enough time in the day to get to all the books I want to read. What books do you regret waiting to read?

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7 books

Kirstyn's Bookshelf\ \ Kirstyn\ \ • Mar 31 2025

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Every book I read in 2024

Let's chat about all the books I read in 2024! It was a great reading year. I can't wait to see what books I read in 2025 :)

What's on your tbr?

Thank you for being here:)

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31 books

Kirstyn's Bookshelf\ \ Kirstyn\ \ • Mar 31 2025

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the best books of 2024

It's that time of year! Time to rate and review all the books I read in 2024. These are my top 5 books from the year and some honorable mentions. ;)

Stay tuned for my full year-end wrap-up coming soon.

What were your top reads of 2024?

Thank you for being here:)

CONTACT ME: hello@lareesocial.com

MY AMAZON STOREFRONT: https://amzn.to/40DKoWe

JOIN MY COMMUNITY INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/3zodqNo GOODREADS: http://bit.ly/40DKgWK

Music: Mornings Musician: Jeff Kaale

9 books

Mood Reads\ \ Hannah\ \ • Mar 25 2024

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Spring Break 2024: Chicago Bookstore Tour! Second Stop: Unabridged!

8 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Feb 6 2023

what i read in january | yellowface, hell bent, tomorrow x 3, love on the brain

Let me know what y'all thought of these books! who's excited for YELLOWFACE? 👀

harpercollins union resources: https://linktr.ee/hcpunion

💓 join as a channel member to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJn0v3OAEAX3-V4crjcHtRA/join

💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com

faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? - my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nah-nee (like a knee!)

🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? - both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada!

🤍 what is your job? - aside from youtube I also work in product marketing!

11 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Jan 17 2023

reading booktubers' favourite books of 2022

💓 join as a channel member to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJn0v3OAEAX3-V4crjcHtRA/join

💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com

faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? - my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nah-nee (like a knee!)

🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? - both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada!

🤍 what is your job? - aside from youtube I also work in product marketing!

5 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Nov 7 2022

AN AMBITIOUS END OF THE YEAR TBR | November + December TBR

other places to find me 🤍 my website: https://www.jananiekvelu.com/ 🤍 my series # EpicBookRecs on the Epic Reads Channel: https://bit.ly/2XziOfz

💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com

faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? - my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nah-nee (like a knee!)

🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? - both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada!

🤍 what is your job? - aside from youtube I also work in product marketing!

42 books