Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell

From Storygraph: On a summer’s day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?

Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London.

Neither parent knows that Hamnet will not survive the week.

Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright. It is a story of the bond between twins, and of a marriage pushed to the brink by grief.

It is also the story of a kestrel and its mistress; a flea that boards a ship in Alexandria; and a glovemaker’s son who flouts convention in pursuit of the woman he loves. Above all, it is the tender reimagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

My Thoughts: This was beautiful and devastating. It’s funny though because it wasn’t the final scene that stuck with me but the one where Hamnet lies down next to his sister and makes his bargain. I watched the movie on the plane after I’d finished this and also enjoyed it, but with the movie it was then end that stuck. This is a Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner. 4.5 stars.

Death at the Sanatorium – Ragner Jonasson

From Storygraph:  High up in the mountains stands a sanatorium. Once a hospital dedicated to treating tuberculosis, it now sits haunted by the ghosts of its past.

 One wing of the hospital remains open and houses six employees: the caretaker, two doctors, two nurses and a young research assistant.

 Despite the wards closing decades ago, they remain at the hospital to conduct research. But the cold corridors, draughty windows and echoey halls are constant reminders of the building’s dark history.

 When one of the nurses, Yrsa, is found brutally murdered, they discover that death has never left this place – and neither did its secrets. None can escape this terrifying legacy.

 Despite just four suspects the case is never solved and remains open for two decades. Until a young criminologist named Helgi Reykdal attempts to finally lay the ghosts of the hospital’s past to rest .

My Thoughts: Our library has a books in translation list which I decided to dig into for my Read Around the World Challenge. Ragnar Jonasson is from Iceland. The story spans three timelines which the author switches back and forth between. I did not see the ending coming. An enjoyable read. 3.5 stars.