Hamnet

Winner of The Women's Prize for Fiction 2020 - the No. 1 Bestseller

By: Maggie O'Farrell

Narrated by: Daisy Donovan

Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020
The Sunday Times best seller

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 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 one of the children 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; 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 a tender and unforgettable 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.

©2020 Maggie O'Farrell (P)2020 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Critic reviews

"A thing of shimmering wonder." (David Mitchell)

"Richly sensuous...something special." (The Sunday Times)

Bard worthy.

A beautiful tragedy worthy of the Bard himself. 😢 I loved it. Highly recommend.
The narrator has a beautiful tone.

Brilliant in every way

I can’t tell you how much I loved this book. I ended up buying the paperback as well

Recommended for fans of historical fictions.

Though I usually don't like to read fictional stories based on real people, I enjoyed Hamnet, for two reasons: its authenticity and for being faithful to the 1850's. As not much is known of Shakespeare, the author may have had some freedom for creativity, but she doesn't spoil it. The story is not modern, nor medival. That was a huge relief for me.

Good book, but not as great as expected

The raves about this book made me expect more. The comparisons to Hilary Mantel’s trilogy made me expect more. But then, much is known about Cromwell’s history and exploits, the politics of Henry VIII’s court, his wives, etc. Not much is known about the characters in Hamnet. They existed. One of them wrote a lot of plays, which are considered among the greatest literature. Hamnet died (this shouldn’t be a spoiler, given all the reviews and what is known from history). But little is known about Shakespeare’s wife, and really not so much is known about him, as a person, who is never named in this book - was this an idea derived from Mantel’s frequent “he” when referring to Cromwell? Here, if you came from a place where they never heard of Hamlet or Shakespeare, you wouldn’t know who the playwright is in this story. O’Farrell writes beautifully, but something is lacking in the characters. The book is really a fictitious imagining of Agnes (Anne Hathaway). And there is a lot of imagining. - because we really know so little about her. I was absorbed and enjoyed the narration.

comments

loved it. great narration. read with clarity and great understanding of the plot. bring alive the characters. a great job done. thanks.

Just brilliant

You have to read this book. It was awesome bought paperback for several people as well as myself as well as listening to audio book.

Haunting and beautiful.

In this story the author speculates how the life of Shakespeare would have been. You find yourself falling in love with the characters easily, almost wishing for it to be real. The reason being, it makes perfect sense!

Breathtaking

A sensitive, affecting performance of a brilliantly crafted novel. This was as close to perfect as an audiobook experience can get.

Outstanding

Fantastic, magnificent, supberb, what to say about Hamnet. I loved it. The story was so well told. Daisy Donovan’s narration was just right.

Best. Narrator. Ever.

The book is brilliant, and the narrator has such a unique and beautiful way of interpreting it for the listener. I went looking for other books by the same narrator and could only find one. Please do more, Daisy Donovan!