A Shattering Family Story Behind A Famous Name
The death of Shakespeare’s son becomes the heart of this luminous historical novel about marriage, parenthood and grief. Intimate, atmospheric and deeply moving, it is the kind of literary fiction that makes a distant past feel painfully close and utterly alive.
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Hamnet
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A Shattering Family Story Behind A Famous Name
The death of Shakespeare’s son becomes the heart of this luminous historical novel about marriage, parenthood and grief. Intimate, atmospheric and deeply moving, it is the kind of literary fiction that makes a distant past feel painfully close and utterly alive.
- Book Synopsis
-
Ideal for readers who:
- Are drawn to historical fiction rooted in family, grief and love
- Want Shakespearean England and Stratford-upon-Avon brought intimately to life
- Follow stories where a child’s loss reshapes a marriage and a household
- Prefer luminous, emotionally rich novels that stay with you long after the last page
The no. 1 bestseller that inspired the major film starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.
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 tells the story of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written. It is also the story of a marriage, of a couple brought together by love and curiosity, and pulled apart by grief. Inspired by the son Shakespeare lost, Maggie O’Farrell’s breathtaking novel is a luminous portrait of a family and a tender exploration of how art can emerge from sorrow.
- About The Author
- Maggie O'Farrell is the author of HAMNET, Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020, and the memoir I AM, I AM, I AM, both Sunday Times no. 1 bestsellers. Her novels include AFTER YOU'D GONE, MY LOVER'S LOVER, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, which won a Somerset Maugham Award, THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX, THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE, which won the 2010 Costa Novel Award, INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE and THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT, which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize. She is also the author of three books for children, WHERE SNOW ANGELS GO, THE BOY WHO LOST HIS SPARK and WHEN THE STAMMER CAME TO STAY. She lives in Edinburgh.
- Product Details
-
- ISBN
- 9781035431335
- Format
- Paperback
- Publisher
- Tinder Press, (23 October 2025)
- Number of Pages
- 372
- Weight
- 269 grams
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 196 x 128 x 28 mm
- Categories: