Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell

'Hamnet' by Maggie O'Farrell (Tinder Press 372-page paperback)

The best-selling novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright: a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written. Now a major motion picture starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, directed by Chloé Zhao (Nomadland).

On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs, Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that Hamnet will not survive the week.