In 1580s England, during the plague, a young Latin teacher falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young girl, Agnes. The mysterious woman walks her family's land in gloves and with a hawk, she understands plants and potions better than people, and is regularly approached for her medicinal herbs.
After they marry, Agnes becomes central to the young man's life as he makes his way up the London stage. They have three children: Susanna, and the twins, Hamnet and Judith. In 1596, at the age of eleven, Hamnet died unexpectedly of a sudden fever. His father writes the play Hamlet four years later.
Award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell's book is a brilliant portrait of this marriage, a harrowing story of a family wracked by grief and loss and a wonderfully strong woman. In the meantime, he gently evokes a boy whose life is now forgotten, but whose name is preserved in one of the most celebrated pieces of world literature.