For January and February, the Women’s Society Book Club is reading Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell – a novel that has stayed with readers long after the final page.
Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Hamnet is a beautifully written, quietly powerful story about love, loss, and the inner lives of women whose stories are often left in the margins.
Although inspired by Shakespeare’s family, this is not a story about fame or literary legacy in the way we might expect. Instead, it centres on Agnes – a mother, a wife, a woman deeply connected to the natural world and explores how a single loss reshapes an entire family.
At its heart, Hamnet is about grief: how it arrives, how it lingers, and how it changes us. O’Farrell writes with sensitivity and restraint, allowing space for reflection rather than rushing the reader through emotion. It’s a book that invites you to read slowly, in snatched moments and sit with what rises to the surface.
The novel also explores creativity and connection: how stories are born out of love and pain, and how art can become a way of holding on, remembering, and making sense of the unsayable. It’s these themes – motherhood, partnership, resilience, and the quiet strength of women that make Hamnet such a meaningful choice for our book club.
In 2025, Hamnet was adapted into a feature film, bringing O’Farrell’s story to a wider audience and introducing many new readers to the novel. While the film offers a visual interpretation of the story, our book club will focus on the richness of the text itself – the language, the emotional depth, and the perspective that makes the novel so powerful.
As with all Women’s Society Book Club picks, there’s no pressure to read in a certain way or on a certain timeline. This is about returning to reading whenever you can, then coming together to share thoughts, questions, and reflections.
Join the Conversation
Our online book club discussion will take place on 20th February at 8pm (online). The conversation will be relaxed, welcoming, and open whether you’ve finished the book, are halfway through, or simply want to listen in.
Tickets can be booked via the website: https://womenssociety.co.uk/product/february-book-club/
We look forward to reading and reflecting together.
