Hamnet

De: Maggie O'Farrell

Narrado por: Ell Potter

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Of all the stories that argue and speculate about Shakespeare’s life ... here is a novel ... so gorgeously written that it transports you." —The Boston Globe

In 1580’s England, during the Black Plague a young Latin tutor falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman in this “exceptional historical novel” (The New Yorker) and best-selling winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family’s land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people. Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever.

A luminous portrait of a marriage, a shattering evocation of a family ravaged by grief and loss, and a tender and unforgettable re-imagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, and whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays of all time, Hamnet is mesmerizing, seductive, impossible to put down—a magnificent leap forward from one of our most gifted novelists.

Don’t miss Maggie O’Farrell’s new novel, The Marriage Portrait!

Absolute genius

Easily one of the finest novels of the last twenty-five years. Just one man’s opinion. Well, I’m not in fact a man, I’m a well-known actress posing as a man for the sake of audible reviews, but it’s a figure of… okay, you get the idea. Always, Geoff

Loved this book!

Clever plot, lush descriptions, brilliant narration. Transported me to 16th century England. I recommend Hamnet without reservations.

Hamnet

Loved this book and the reading of it. I could see Stratford in my minds eye and felt that I was “in the time. “. Beautifully read.

Loved Every Word

I loved this book. The writing style is magnificent - Maggie O'Farrell brings you right into the story from page 1. The Bard would have been proud to read this lovely take on his family life. Agnus' beautiful, tragic tale was both lovely and heart warming. Ell Potter is a gorgeous narrator. Well done ✔

Enjoyed the possibilities

Good story, storyline and she is a great story teller. The attention to detail and history is good

An extraordinary tale of love and loss

Maggie O’Farrell doesn’t specialize in verbose passages of eloquence suitable for blurbs. She doesn’t need them.

One of the tricky things with audiobooks is that some books simply don’t translate to the format. That is, the plot can often get lost within long elucidations that mainly serve to show of the skills of the writer. The words of writers such as Salman Rushdie, Marlon James and David Foster Wallace, while brilliant, are much better to experience on the page rather than in the ears.

“Hamnet” could be easily enjoyed either way. O’Farrell is a masterful storyteller. Not a sentence is wasted. The book itself is broken into two parts, with the first seamlessly weaving between the past and present and devoted to exposition and the love story that’s at the core of the book. The second, shorter part deals in the aftermath of the tragedy, with the main characters dealing with the tragedy in their own respective ways.

There were parts of this book that simply flattened me. I was left breathless and heartsick reading the parts leading up to the tragedy. The mark of a truly great writer is their ability to transfix the reader despite knowing what is about to unfold. And while the reader might wonder how O’Farrell could possibly keep the reader interested after the tragedy, just wait. She effortlessly takes the reader through the process of mourning. By then, the reader is so invested in the characters, especially Agnes, that we can’t help but feel what they are feeling.

And that ending? I haven’t cried that hard at the end of a story in a long time. Just sublime.

And a special mention of Ell Potter’s narration. I’ve never been tempted to seek out specific narrators on this platform, but I will likely download anything she reads moving forward.

1/25/21

Narration is pitch perfect. Wonderful story, well written . I wish there was more to tell . A new favorite for me

Poetic Novel

Beautifully written in a sonnet-like flow. The descriptions overtook the thrust of the storyline early on. But wonderfully so. You’ll have to leave all manner of the 21st century to fully engage. Easily done and well worth it.
5 stars!

Favorite of 2021!

Most beautifully written book I’ve read in a long time. I love Hamlet and it was a pleasure to fill in and imagine the backstory of Shakespeare and his family. Such a treat to listen to this book! Excellent performance by the reader. Her voice is buttery and soft, but clear and easy to understand. Overall, a worthy use of your precious time!

Dreamlike

Elle Potter’s brilliant narration raised this beautiful love story to breathtaking heights. I listened, rapt, as timeless love for a child, a twin, a spouse, the natural world were woven together by O’Farrell’s careful and patient revelation of the possibility of 2 rare and complicated human beings.