I found it difficult during the first 10-15% of the book to settle into the world and its characters. 

After this, I was engrossed and stayed up too late to finish the book. 
The writing style was something I was not used to, omniscient narration that can swap from one characters view to another by a paragraph. After a short time, I really enjoyed it and found it easy to read. 

I found the writing so descriptive. I was there in the cookhouse or the garden, I could picture the rooms, the markets, the gardens. I enjoyed the focus on Agnes and her children. 

I was absolutely heart broken when Hamnet drew his last breath and couldn’t tear myself away from Agnes’ pain.

I enjoyed the artistic trail of thought of the characters minds, mulling over every option of thought and following their trail of thinking to me felt like I was with the character. 

I remember very little of the Shakespeare I had learned in high school and read this book without k ow much of the historical background or what the time period was like. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and hope to read more from Maggie O’Farrell.