Summary

Part 1, Chapter 1 begins with an epigraph quoting William Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet. This quote foreshadows the character Hamnet’s untimely death, which historically occurred for the character’s real counterpart in 1596. The epigraph also clarifies that the names Hamnet and Hamlet are interchangeable.

Hamnet’s perspective opens the first scene, though Maggie O’Farrell’s omniscient third-person narration shifts perspectives frequently in each chapter. Hamnet searches his family’s home on Henley Street for someone to help him attend to Judith, his twin sister, who has taken to bed with a sudden illness. Hamnet establishes the layout of the family home and the typical whereabouts of each family member while he searches for help.

The narrator reflects on Hamnet’s tendency to become distracted, a habit he quickly enacts while searching the house. Hamnet explores his grandfather’s glove-making workshop until a...