Maggie O'Farrell's novel Hamnet was a massive international bestseller and a critical triumph. Published during Covid in 2020, its account of the tragic death of Wiliam Shakespeare's son Hamnet at the age of 11 is profoundly moving. O'Farrell was very clear that it is a work of fiction. In the book, Hamnet's twin sister Judith is perilously ill with the plague, but Hamnet finds himself able to swap places with her, and die so that she might live. Shakespeare and his wife Agnes live more or less separate lives - he in London and she in Stratford. In O'Farrell's version, she has a semi spiritual connection with nature and the forest, and understands how to use herbs and plants for medicinal purposes. Shakespeare's father John is a damaged and violent man. And in the novel, Shakespeare writes Hamlet partially as an act of atonement for his guilt at being absent as a father and a husband. How much of this is true? Does it matter if it's not? Is O'Farrell's writing uniquely brilliant and descriptive, or is it the product of too many creative writing courses? And what on earth is rue? Join us on Book In as we look at this hugely popular book. Georgie Fordham is the reader.

Margaret Atwood's famous novel The Handmaid's Tale was published in 1984, a year laden with significance for dystopian views of the future. Some sort of violent, apocalyptic event has resulted in the United States being taken over by an autocratic, quasi religious police state, now called Gilead, in which the role of women has been largely reduced to reproduction and domestic service. They are required to wear coloured dresses - red for the Handmaids who are the childbearers, green for the Marthas who do the housework - and any sort of social contact is strictly controlled. The Handmaids are impregnated by high status men known as Commanders, while being physically held in place by the Commander's wife, in an event known as the Ceremony. The central character, now known as Offred, initially appears to accept this state of affairs, but gradually becomes aware of the existence of an underground resistance movement which may offer a means of escape. Atwood's novel explores issues of feminism, and sexual and gender relationships, and its vision of women being denied any form of individual identity or the means to express opinions or feelings was heavily influenced by the Iranian revolution of a few years before, and finds echoes in the situation that women find themselves in in Afghanistan today. The book has many echoes of Orwell's great novel, brilliantly capturing the claustrophobia and fear that living in a tightly controlled surveillance state involves. But does the novel convince? Are its religious aspects a warning of the consequences of indulging the kind of intolerant religious groups gaining traction today? And has the feminist vision Atwood presents become superseded by the MeToo generation? Join us on Book In to find out.

The Tempest is Shakespeare's last play, and many have seen its central character, Prospero, as representing Shakespeare himself, preparing for his departure from the stage. But the truth is more complex and nuanced; Prospero is indeed a visionary and powerful figure, manipulating the fates of the characters who have been shipwrecked on his island. But he is also tetchy, angry, petty, vindictive and cruel. He assembles all his enemies on the island and forces them to confront their treachery; they are forgiven, and Prospero gives up his magic powers to return to the real world. The character of Caliban has given rise to centuries of debate about slavery, freedom, colonialism and appropriation. And in The Tempest we find some of the very greatest of Shakespearean speeches and language. Join Rupert and Charlie as they look at one of the greatest of Shakespeare's plays.