Hamnet

Caution: There are some spoiler in the first three paragraphs.

It is England. It is 1580. Agnes cares for her three children: daughter, Susanna, and the twins, Judith and Hamnet, at home in Stratford, while her husband works in London, an actor and playwright. Agnes is a healer, and she knows how to help those who are ill or hurt. Then her daughter, Judith, is ill with the plague. Agnes cannot help her, and Hamnet is distraught. He cannot bear to lose his twin.

And then it is Hamnet that is dead, and the family is torn apart, all of them mourning this beloved boy. Agnes is devastated when her husband returns to his work. She can do nothing but deeply grieve the loss of her child.

Agnes is told of a play her husband has written. She is shocked to learn that it is called Hamlet, and she finds she must travel to London to see it.

Maggie O'Farrell constructs the story of the loss of the child of the great playwright and the writing of one of the great playwright's greatest works with the same name as the child. It's a very sensual story, filled with all the smells of the time, and it's a very emotional story, probably the best depiction of the impact of the loss of a child on a mother I've ever read.