Library Book Reviews

New Arrivals

HAMNET by Maggie O’Farrell

‘Hamnet’ must surely be one of the most brilliant novels published last year. The story is about William Shakespeare and his lesser-known family. His wife Agnes, also known as Ann Hathaway, has borne him three children, Susanna, then twins, Judith and his son Hamnet.

Little is known about Hamnet, nor is it recorded how he died, but O’Farrell suggests the plague was the cause for his death as Bubonic plague was spread by fleas carried by the black rat, and usually appeared every summer in London. Even the flea has a vital part to play in this story.

O’Farrell has an uncanny ability to bring these late years of the sixteenth century vividly to life. She takes us to the London theatre where we see William at work, and on the stage. Back in Stratford-upon-Avon she draws a vibrantly authentic picture of rural England drawing the reader in almost to feel part of it. Her characterisation is equally luminous, and the story sweeps us along with a flair that brings each character and every scene dynamically to life.

There is very little existing information about Shakespeare’s only son, but O’Farrell has created an imaginative story round what Hamnet might have been like, so that hopefully he will be remembered more clearly than he hitherto has been.

‘Hamnet’ is so unusual adjectives such as unputdownable and outstanding, simply fail to suffice. The book is all of these, and much, much more, I have seldom been so enthralled by a book.

THE EVENING AND THE MORNING by Ken Follett

Follett has described this as the ‘prequel’ to his earlier masterpiece of storytelling, ‘The Pillars of the Earth,’ a book once started that was impossible to put down. I read it first, my husband didn’t think it was ‘his kind of book’ but when begun, little sense came out of him until he’d finished it too.

‘The Evening and the Morning’ is not as compelling as ‘Pillars of the Earth,’ and it’s a long read. The plot is set in tenth century Anglo-Saxon England, where Viking invasions are causing destruction and fear. The story begins with one such raid and extreme loss of life. Those who are left, begin again in the village of Combe. A wedding takes place between Ragna, daughter of an aristocratic Norman family and Anglo-Saxon Wilwulf, also of noble family. They are happily married, but soon Wilwulf is obliged to go and defend the realm against both the Welsh and the Vikings. In his absence Ragna becomes deputy ruler. Her position is threatened by her mother-in-law, Wilwulf’s stepmother, who is ambitious only for her own sons.

As the story progresses, the excitement grows palpably and tension builds. The action is built round three main characters – Edgar, who survived the Viking raid, Ragna and an ambitious monk who seeks to better his monastery. Follett himself is a remarkable author, simply because he has never stooped to produce ‘potboilers’, in other words books just to keep his name in the public eye. Here is one of his best.

KENYA KALEIDOSCOPE

by AGNES R. SHAW, OBE.

When I first came to Kenya, everyone knew of ‘Aggie’ Shaw’ - a vociferous member of what was Leg Co, alias Legislative Council, later Parliament after Independence. Kenya news in these far-off days was hard to come by. We, being Colonial Government servants, lived in Embu. Transistor radios had not been invented, while an ‘ordinary’ radio had to be run off the Landrover battery. It was never very distinct (hard too on the battery.) The East African Standard arrived once a week only, on Fridays, by bus. Thus my knowledge of Aggie herself was limited.

She did not write her book until 1973, and it has just very recently been published. Here is a brilliant autobiography of an amazing lady whose thinking was well in advance of her time, and who never lost her sense of humour, or her moral standards. Kenya has a history in which she played a significant part. The interest of the book is certainly not just for those who are now decidedly ancient and recollect Aggie: she holds an integral role in how this beautiful country developed and how well it has done – not without problems admittedly - but nonetheless it has suffered much fewer ills than many African countries, and come through its troubled times successfully, thanks to people such as Mzee Kenyatta himself, Michael Blundell, Aggie and many others. Aggie and her husband were originally Sotik farmers. Her account of the difficulties of farming in these early days is fascinating, showing that life in remote areas of Kenya was not exactly a piece of cake. When Independence arrived, the country was lucky, as although it was desperately difficult, let alone tragic for many colonialist farmers to accept either giving up their farms, even with compensation, or to decide whether to stay on, if given the choice. It was thanks to the good team in Leg Co. that things went as well as they did, although there were many gloomy predictions at the time. People like Michael Blundell, Aggie and of course Mzee Kenyatta himself perhaps never did gain the recognition due to them at the time, but with the ‘foresight of hindsight’ they fulfilled a great deal more than they ever received credit for.

All this, and much more, is contained in Kenya Kaleidoscope, which is both a gripping story as well as almost being a historical document. The book – highly recommended and very readable - will be launched officially at MCC on the 15 April 2021.

Julia Lawrence