Review: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

I couldn’t be happier that Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet won this year’s Women’s Prize.  I love O’Farrell but I worried that this book couldn’t live up to my expectations, after all the rave reviews.  It absolutely did. Hamnet is about William Shakespeare, though he’s never actually named in the book. It’s 1596, and 11 year old Hamnet…

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

For some reason I started this book several times; it didn’t quite grab me at first.  I suppose a story about a theater director seemed like it might be pretentious.  I should have realized that Margaret Atwood wouldn’t write a pretentious book.  Once I gave this book a couple of chapters, I was hooked.  And…