HHM

A great read for 2020. It's historical fiction, but as it relates to Shakespeare, likely more fiction. So little is really known about his life, and specifically his son Hamnet that it provides a blank slate for the author to imagine and fill in the blanks with a story of human loss and tragedy. Shakespeare plays somewhat of a supporting role in the story, which is one of the things that makes this story so captivating. I found myself reminding myself that William was "the" William Shakespeare. The fact that the story is set during the bubonic plague makes it apropos for these Corona virus days. Our pandemic is different from the pestilence of the Elizabethan era in many ways, and being 400 years later we have more effective ways to deal with its effects. We have better medical technology with our ventilators and intensive care rooms, and of course the rapid vaccine development, but our missteps feel like echoes of the Renaissance. They had their physicians prescribing onion and dried toad; and we have a president publicly talking about ingesting bleach ignoring the scientists. Times change, but then they don't. There are lots of insightful and entertaining segments of this book. I highly recommend it. It's a good read and a moving story of human loss.