13 Great Book Club Questions for Hamnet
Looking for Hamnet book club questions for your next reading group meeting? Here are 13 thought-provoking discussion questions to get you guys going!
Hamnet is described by its author, Maggie O’Farrell, as ‘idle speculation’ about the death of Shakespeare’s son.
A historical novel set in the late sixteenth century, it follows what happens when the bubonic plague reaches the Shakespeare family and the catastrophic fallout of losing a loved one.
It’s an emotional, riveting novel with a twist of the supernatural that echoes Shakespeare’s work. It’s an excellent choice for a book club, with deeply layered, complex characters and themes of grief, loss, and love.
This discussion guide forms part of my wider Book Club Questions series, created to support thoughtful group conversations around books.
To help you get ready for your next book club meeting, here are some thought-provoking Hamnet book club questions.
Plus, now that there is a highly-acclaimed Hamnet film adaptation, this is the perfect time to read this book with your book club.
13 Hamnet Book Club Questions
Hamnet is described from the beginning as being easily distracted; he often loses focus on what he’s doing. ‘He has the tendency to slip the bounds of the real, tangible world around him and enter another place.’ (p.15)
Even when Hamnet is desperately searching for help for his sister in the opening pages of the book, he gets distracted, much to his own frustration.
What did you think of this aspect of Hamnet’s character? Do you think being able to get ‘lost’ in this way can be a strength and a weakness?
Agnes seems to have a deep sense of trouble on the horizon as she tends to her bees. ‘She senses its potency, like an incoming storm.’ (p.23) Later, she wonders if she had returned home earlier, the outcome would have been different for her children.
Do you think it would have made any difference if Agnes had returned home earlier? What did you think about the character of Agnes and her seemingly supernatural intuition?
William is not often mentioned by name in the novel. Instead, he is referred to by his relationship with other people (father, husband, and so on).
Why do you think the author chose to do this? Did you have any prior knowledge of Hamlet, and did this influence your opinion on how the story would unfold?
Agnes and William have a difficult start to their relationship. They come from different backgrounds, and both families react explosively when they find out Agnes is pregnant. Still, they are close, drawn together by Agnes’s mysterious ability to be able to ‘read’ people: ‘I don’t think you have any idea what it is like to be married to someone like you.’ (p.234)
What did you think of Agnes and William’s relationship?
Agnes struggles in her relationships with the women in her life, finding it difficult to get along with both her stepmother and her mother-in-law, with the latter observing during Agnes’s labour with the twins ‘Agnes is of another world. She does not quite belong here.’ (p.177)
Why do you think this is? Do you think Agnes unsettles the older women, and does this play a part in how they treat her?
The book jumps between different timelines. It covers Agnes and William’s earlier life when they meet and have their children, Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet. It also covers Judith’s illness, Hamnet’s death, and the fallout afterwards.
Did you find it easy to follow what was happening? Do you like this form of storytelling, or do you prefer a linear timeline?
There is a brief interlude in the book in which the author establishes how the plague spread to England. ‘For the pestilence to reach Warwickshire, England, in the summer of 1596, two events need to occur in the lives of two separate people, and then these people need to meet.’ (p.128)
Did the spread of the disease, through random circumstances, remind you of the recent public health crisis? What did you think of this section of the book?
The loss of Hamnet has a seismic impact on the family: ‘How were they to know that Hamnet was the pin holding them all together? That without him they would all fragment and fall apart, like a cup shattered on the floor?’ (p.205)
What do you think of the way each of the characters grieves the imminent loss of Hamnet?
The novel suspends reality, with the twins having a shared understanding of Judith’s potential moment of death: ‘They cannot both live: he sees this and she sees this.’ (p.152). Hamnet takes Judith’s place to trick death into taking him instead.
What did you think of this moment? If you have siblings, did the strength of their relationship feel familiar to you? Would you have made the same decision as Hamnet in this situation?
Let’s talk about the character of Susanna. She steps in to help as Agnes unravels after Hamnet’s death, and she sometimes finds her mother’s mysterious abilities frustrating.
What did you think of Susanna’s character? How do you think Hamnet’s death would impact her life after the end of the story?
This particularly heartbreaking moment shows the terrible pain of a mother dealing with her child’s grief: ‘Agnes finds she can bear anything except her child’s pain. She can bear separation, sickness, blows, birth, deprivation, hunger, unfairness, seclusion, but not this: her child, looking down at her dead twin.’ (p.200)
Could you relate to Agnes at this moment as she faces not just her own grief, but the grief of her daughter?
William goes to London after Hamnet’s death, leaving the women behind. This has a huge impact on his wife and daughters, particularly Judith, who ponders if her father has left because her face reminds him of Hamnet.
Why do you think William did this? How would you have felt in Agnes’s position?
William eventually buys a house for his family, but only returns home a few times a year, and Agnes is shattered to discover his affairs. However, at the end of the book, Agnes watches a performance of Hamlet and discovers her husband has written a play in memory of Hamnet.
What did you think of this moment? Do you think it was healing for Agnes?
Bonus questions:
Hamnet has been adapted into a film, scheduled for release on 9 January 2026 and starring actors Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley.
What do you think of the trailer for the Hamnet film? Do you think it captured the book as you imagined it?
What do you think of the casting for the new film? Do Agnes and William Shakespeare look as you imagined they would?
Hamnet is an emotional read and an excellent choice for a book club. Hopefully, these book club questions for Hamnet will help facilitate the discussion!
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