Hamnet
A Novel
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Hamnet
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Narrated by:
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Daisy Donovan
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Written by:
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Maggie O'Farrell
About this listen
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"[An] exceptional winner. . . . It expresses something profound about the human experience that seems both extraordinarily current and at the same time, enduring." —Martha Lane Fox, Chair of The Women's Prize for Fiction judges
Two extraordinary people. A love that draws them together. A plague that threatens to tear them apart.
England, 1580. A young Latin tutor—penniless, bullied by a violent father—falls in love with an eccentric young woman: a wild creature who walks her family's estate with a falcon on her shoulder and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer. Agnes understands plants and potions better than she does people, but once she settles on the Henley Street in Stratford she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband. His gifts as a writer are just beginning to awaken when their beloved twins, Hamnet and Judith, are afflicted with the bubonic plague, and, devastatingly, one of them succumbs to the illness.
A luminous portrait of a marriage, a shattering evocation of a family ravaged by grief and loss, and a hypnotic recreation of the story that inspired one of the greatest literary masterpieces of all time, Hamnet is mesmerizing and seductive, an impossible-to-put-down novel from one of our most gifted writers.
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What the critics say
2020, Irish Novel of the Year, Short-listed
2020, Women's Prize for Fiction, Winner
2020, National Book Critics Circle Awards, Winner
2021, British Book Award - Fiction Book of the Year, Winner
2021, Dalkey Literary Awards - Novel of the Year, Winner
2021, Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Short-listed
"What could be more common, over centuries and continents, than the death of a child - and yet Maggie O’Farrell, with her flawless sentences and furious heart, somehow makes it new. This story of remarkable people bereft of their boy will leave you shaking with loss but also the love from which family is spun." (Emma Donoghue, author of Room)
"Love, grief, hope, resilience - the world of this novel is so vivid I could nearly smell the grass in the fields, hear the rain in the gutters. In moments where the story shoots up to heaven I was there, too, grieving with these characters, feeling how lucky we all are to be alive, understanding how desperately we want the people we love to be remembered. It’s without a doubt one of the best novels I’ve ever read." (Mary Beth Keane, author of Ask Again, Yes)
Featured Article: Historical Fiction Listens with Strong and Inspiring Female Protagonists
History teaches us what happened; historical fiction novels let us feel what happened. Without female protagonists in these historical fiction books, we’re only getting half the picture of what it might have been like to live through different time periods. Whether it’s a historical romance set hundreds of years ago or a twentieth-century drama based on actual events, discover listens that are both heartbreaking and humbling as female characters lead the way.
What listeners say about Hamnet
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MM
- 2020-10-03
Enchanting
I loved how the author engaged the senses in her description of life in the 1600s. It was a vivid, poetic, moving story. Really enjoyed the narration as well.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jade D.
- 2023-01-23
A New Favourite Book!
I cannot say enough about this story and it’s presentation! In true O’Farrell fashion, this story winds its way around your heart and seizes on your emotions. I found myself in tears at times, entirely transported.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-03-15
👍🏻
really enjoyed the narrator
story started slow for me but came around at then end and really enjoyed
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kareem
- 2021-05-16
Wonderful performance
The narration was absolutely perfect. The story was beautiful and gut wrenching with vivid, powerful characters and the way it was all tied together was extremely well done.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- coach amanda
- 2021-05-06
Beautifully written
This is not for everyone, but anyone who loves historical novels and fine prose, will enjoy this book
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- CRS
- 2022-01-25
A spectacularly imaginative tour de force !!!!
The narration is superb!!!!
I am left spellbound by they haunting beauty of the prose - the story is written almost entirely in the present tense which adds to the immediacy of the action , creating a kind of cinematic effect leaving the reader with the illusion of being an actual spectator to events unfolding in real time. At times ,the prose is brutal , raw and even violent ; at other times , the writing style is so eloquently lyrical that it borders on the poetic. The book is generally categorized as a work of historical fiction but the subject matter is universal and timeless .
We all have varying tastes in literature but I do think this is a book that most listeners will really enjoy .
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- andrew
- 2021-01-24
Hamnet versus Hamlet
Dual timeline story of historical fiction that speculates on the life of Hamnet Shakespeare and the events surrounding his life and death. Interesting that the the father is never referred to as Will or Shakespeare. The mother is Agnes but the surname Hathaway never comes up. It becomes clear later if you hadn't already realized from other clues. Scholars have argued about the origin of the name of the Prince and it may or may not be from the boy's name. Overall I found the way the author describes people or places a little trying (his face, his hands , his hair etc. often in threes). The story is an intriguing one and may have been better told in a linear fashion although the dual timeline method helps contrast the birth of the twins and the death of one of them for example. The sudden diversion into a bubonic plague flea journey was a bit like being kidnapped by aliens in the middle of the book although I enjoyed the explanation of how the black death might have been spread around by travel in those days and of course very evocative of our own pandemic times .
I was disappointed by the narrator who had a way too posh BBC accent for my taste. Her attempted voices for some characters, if we can extrapolate from current local accents in the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire area ,were inaccurate, more like a generic northern twang for Bartholomew to give one example.
Certainly no Hilary Mantell but nevertheless an interesting take on a historical mystery and another Hamlet spin off although I prefer the absurd approach of Stoppard. No idea why the book is titled Hamnet in the UK and Hamnet and Judith in North America.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Louise Primeau
- 2021-07-01
Exquisite!
This is a beautiful story and the narration couldn’t be better. Daisy Donovan is incredible. This story will stay with me for a long time.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Carolyn Ledwell
- 2021-08-29
A winner!
Wonderfully written and beautifully read. Maggie O’Farrell has recreated the world Shakespeare lived and worked in and it is amazing
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2022-10-14
Incredible Storytelling
The Narrator is equally enthralling. I couldn’t stop listening. The description and detail that Maggie O’Farrell uses to tell an emotional story is beyond imaginable. I loved every minute. Highly recommended!
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