Hamnet

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What to expect

**LISTEN TO HAMNET STAR JESSIE BUCKLEY'S UNFORGETTABLE NEW RECORDING BEFORE YOU SEE THE FILM**

'Richly sensuous... something special' The Sunday Times
'A thing of shimmering wonder' David Mitchell

TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.

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: a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

WINNER OF THE 2020 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER 2021
WINNER: WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
WINNER: FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR, BRITISH BOOK AWARDS
WINNER: BOOKS ARE MY BAG READER'S CHOICE AWARD
AS FEATURED ON BBC2'S BETWEEN THE COVERS
SHORTLISTED: AN POST IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR, WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION

Critics Review

Stunning. The writing is exquisite, immersive and compelling... deserves to win prizes
The story of Hamnet Shakespeare has been waiting in the shadows for over four hundred years. Maggie O'Farrell brings it dazzlingly, devastatingly, into the light
Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it
Heartstopping. Hamnet does for the Shakespeare story what Jean Rhys did for Jane Eyre, inhabiting, enlarging and enriching it in ways that will alter the reader's view for ever
Blisteringly brilliant... You'll lap up this intricately told story of grief, love and the bond between twins
Cosmopolitan
[A] rich imagining of the lives of Shakespeare's family enchants... O'Farrell's remarkable novel bursts with life
Sunday Telegraph
A beautiful read. A devastating one. Intricate, and breathtakingly imaginative
Rachel Joyce
A bold undertaking. Beautifully imagined and written
Claire Tomalin
Richly sensuous...something special
Sunday Times
The novel of her career... everyone I know who has managed to get hold of a copy is absolutely in love with it
Observer
A staggeringly beautiful and unbearably poignant novel. O'Farrell is one of the most surprisingly quiet radicals in fiction
Scotsman

User Reviews

Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
5.0
5.0
A beautifully emotive reading - very moving. Can't wait to see Jessie Buckley play Agnes in the film
bleadenreads 21/09/2025

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