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Hamnet |
Artistic license is an essential element in historical novels but when the facts are few, imagination is key. Maggie O'Farrell puts the focus entirely on Shakespeare's wife in telling the story of their love affair, marriage and death of their son, aged eleven. It becomes a study of love, compromise, separation, motherhood and grief. The prose is beautiful and the character and intimacy the author creates are so masterful that I was utterly convinced. Brava!
(Denise Lewis - bwl 97 Summer 2020) |
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I Am I Am I Am: Seventeen brushes with death |
O'Farrell has certainly had her fair share of brushes with death (though some, frankly, more danger than death) and this collection of incidents from her life build up into a compendium of examples of how precarious we all are, just a hair's breadth away from disaster. From life-threatening childhood disease to almost death by drowning via near decapitation and so on, we gasp but in the end participate in her almost matter-of-fact celebration of survival. Bracing!
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 91 Winter 2019) |
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The Marriage Portrait |
An imagining of the brief life of Lucrezia de’ Medici which is full of rich descriptions of the dress, jewels and life in the ducal palaces of Renaissance Italy. We follow her through childhood and early marriage of convenience to Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara. She is a pawn in powerful dynasties and the need for an heir. O’Farrell has distorted historical facts for a modern reading of the heroine, but it is an entrancing read.
(The title refers to Robert Browning’s poem ‘My Last Duchess’.)
(Christine Miller - bwl 107 Winter 2023) |
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The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox |
Esme is a child who has been shaped by her family - particularly her mother,
who obviously has never liked her, her sister and her little brother who she
adores. More than sixty years later a grand-niece discovers her and takes
her under her wing. The novel is an unravelling mystery which takes the
reader on a journey of hope and despair and certainly kept me turning pages
for the whole of its length. A triumph indeed!
(Julie Higgins - bwl 61 Summer 2011) |
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The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox |
Two sisters: one of them will steal the other's life. Now Kitty has dementia and Esme whom no-one knew existed has reappeared. Slowly their story unfolds going backwards and forwards from their childhood in India to their coming of age in stuffy, upper-class Edinburgh. What did Kitty not mean to do and who is the baby that haunts them? If you're after a straight-forward read this is not for you but if you enjoy unravelling puzzles, it's a must.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 99 Winter 2021) |
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This Must Be the Place |
This is a captivating novel which jumps decades and has multiple storylines which all come together eventually. It's the story of one rather complicated family, the ties that bind them together and the decisions and events which tear them apart; it also explores whether it's better to run from your past or face up to it. The characters are brilliantly drawn, it's beautifully written and it's as good as anything else from O'Farrell. Highly recommended.
(Annie Noble - bwl 83 Winter 2017) |
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This Must be the Place |
O'Farrell spins Irish magic as she gradually unravels the lives and marriage of American Daniel and Claudette, a reclusive English film star. You need to concentrate. There are multiple narrators, each with their own perceptions; time is not lineal; we zigzag across continents; those who are closest are often the furthest apart. And when unresolved events return to haunt Daniel can love ever be enough? A roller-coaster - my first O'Farrell, and it won't be the last!
(Jenny Baker - bwl 86 Autumn 2017) |
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