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Hamnet

Written by: Maggie O'Farrell
Narrated by: Daisy Donovan
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Publisher's Summary

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.

©2020 Maggie O'Farrell (P)2020 Knopf Canada

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 Ratings
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Amazing

This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read...and I think that it has some historical elements makes it even more fascination. The Raiders voice is captivating and I enjoyed her voice more than I would just reading the book. I could not stop listening to this book. Description and language is mesmerizing.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

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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Best Book of the Summer

I loved this book - cover to cover... It is tragic and fanciful... a little bit magical... It is about grief and loss and redemption - parental love and the courage to embrace the change left by death... It is about a woman of strength and wisdom... It is worth every minute!!

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3 people found this helpful

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Excellent!

Rich text...beautifully performed. As an English teacher it is hard to please me. This novel and performance did not disappoint!

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3 people found this helpful

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Incredible story!

the writer has such an incredible style with detail so touching that you feel the event going on in front of your eyes. The narrator is exceptional too. I think the two of them make a beautiful pair. The narrator is soft and has so much feeling in the way she expresses the story that again it is so believable. This is indeed one of the very very best books I have ever heard!

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1 person found this helpful

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  • 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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    4 out of 5 stars
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Characters

Not my genre, not at all, but mesmerizing most of the time nonetheless. A real feel for how life was lived in Elizabethan times, and marvellous descriptions of place and situations. Lots of emotions; actually, mostly emotional, and I can understand why it won the women’s fiction prize. Takes liberties with the story of Shakespeare (if my high school English class was correct), and fairly unplotted. Abrupt ending, but acute. Great narrative voice (I could listen to British variations all day).

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  • Overall
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Simply brilliant!

I loved every moment of this book, as a mother, as an English teacher, and as a fan of Shakespeare. The performance, the story, and the writing are all superb!

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Fabulous

This story was beautifully written and the narrator gave an amazing performance. I would highly recommend this.

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Fantastic story and very well written and narrated

I enjoyed being drawn into the story and loved the ending. I feel like all the characters were well rounded and very realistic .

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