Reviews
"It so happens that the child at the center of Hamnet inspired one of civilization's most famous plays, but in Maggie O'Farrell's gifted hands, Hamnet feels as real as my own child. The raw physical life of O'Farrell's Renaissance England is enthralling. But the beating heart of this book is Hamnet's mother - an indelible, dauntless woman. What a sensual, full-throated love song to the lost child." --Amity Gaige " Hamnet is a beautiful read, a devastating one, intricate, and breathtakingly imaginative. It will stay with me a long time" --Rachel Joyce "I'm absolutely blown away by Maggie O'Farrell's HAMNET. 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 "A bold, beautiful, heart-breaking novel. Maggie has taken on both the most famous writer in the world and the mantle of history with effortless grace. In the process she's written the book of her life. I'm wildly jealous!" --Tracy Chevalier "This striking, painfully lovely novel captures the very nature of grief." -- Booklist [starred review] "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 "Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it" --Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall "A bold undertaking, beautifully imagined and written" --Claire Tomalin, author of Charles Dickens: A Life "Heartstopping. Hamnet does for the Shakespeare story what Jean Rhys did for Jane Eyre , inhabiting it, enlarging it and enriching it in ways that will alter the readers view for ever" --Patrick Gale, author of A Place Called Winter "Exquisite, immersive and compelling... deserves to win prizes" --Marian Keyes, author of The Break "I don't know how anyone could fail to love this book. It is a marvel: a great work of imaginative recreation and a great story. It is also a moral achievement to have transformed that young child from being a literary footnote into someone so tenderly alive that part of you wishes he had survived and Hamlet never been written" --Dominic Dromgoole, author of Hamlet, Globe to Globe, Praise from the UK "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 "Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it" --Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall "A bold undertaking, beautifully imagined and written" --Claire Tomalin, author of Charles Dickens: A Life "Heartstopping. Hamnet does for the Shakespeare story what Jean Rhys did for Jane Eyre , inhabiting it, enlarging it and enriching it in ways that will alter the readers view for ever" --Patrick Gale, author of A Place Called Winter "Exquisite, immersive and compelling... deserves to win prizes" --Marian Keyes, author of The Break "I don't know how anyone could fail to love this book. It is a marvel: a great work of imaginative recreation and a great story. It is also a moral achievement to have transformed that young child from being a literary footnote into someone so tenderly alive that part of you wishes he had survived and Hamlet never been written" --Dominic Dromgoole, author of Hamlet, Globe to Globe, "It so happens that the child at the center of Hamnet inspired one of civilization's most famous plays, but in Maggie O'Farrell's gifted hands, Hamnet feels as real as my own child. The raw physical life of O'Farrell's Renaissance England is enthralling. But the beating heart of this book is Hamnet's mother - an indelible, dauntless woman. What a sensual, full-throated love song to the lost child." --Amity Gaige " Hamnet is a beautiful read, a devastating one, intricate, and breathtakingly imaginative. It will stay with me a long time" --Rachel Joyce "I'm absolutely blown away by Maggie O'Farrell's HAMNET. 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 "This striking, painfully lovely novel captures the very nature of grief." -- Booklist [starred review] "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 "Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it" --Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall "A bold undertaking, beautifully imagined and written" --Claire Tomalin, author of Charles Dickens: A Life "Heartstopping. Hamnet does for the Shakespeare story what Jean Rhys did for Jane Eyre , inhabiting it, enlarging it and enriching it in ways that will alter the readers view for ever" --Patrick Gale, author of A Place Called Winter "Exquisite, immersive and compelling... deserves to win prizes" --Marian Keyes, author of The Break "I don't know how anyone could fail to love this book. It is a marvel: a great work of imaginative recreation and a great story. It is also a moral achievement to have transformed that young child from being a literary footnote into someone so tenderly alive that part of you wishes he had survived and Hamlet never been written" --Dominic Dromgoole, author of Hamlet, Globe to Globe, "I'm absolutely blown away by Maggie O'Farrell's HAMNET. 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 Praise from the UK "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 "Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it" --Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall "A bold undertaking, beautifully imagined and written" --Claire Tomalin, author of Charles Dickens: A Life "Heartstopping. Hamnet does for the Shakespeare story what Jean Rhys did for Jane Eyre , inhabiting it, enlarging it and enriching it in ways that will alter the readers view for ever" --Patrick Gale, author of A Place Called Winter "Exquisite, immersive and compelling... deserves to win prizes" --Marian Keyes, author of The Break "I don't know how anyone could fail to love this book. It is a marvel: a great work of imaginative recreation and a great story. It is also a moral achievement to have transformed that young child from being a literary footnote into someone so tenderly alive that part of you wishes he had survived and Hamlet never been written" --Dominic Dromgoole, author of Hamlet, Globe to Globe, "It so happens that the child at the center of Hamnet inspired one of civilization's most famous plays, but in Maggie O'Farrell's gifted hands, Hamnet feels as real as my own child. The raw physical life of O'Farrell's Renaissance England is enthralling. But the beating heart of this book is Hamnet's mother - an indelible, dauntless woman. What a sensual, full-throated love song to the lost child." --Amity Gaige " Hamnet is a beautiful read, a devastating one, intricate, and breathtakingly imaginative. It will stay with me a long time" --Rachel Joyce "I'm absolutely blown away by Maggie O'Farrell's HAMNET. 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 Praise from the UK "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 "Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it" --Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall "A bold undertaking, beautifully imagined and written" --Claire Tomalin, author of Charles Dickens: A Life "Heartstopping. Hamnet does for the Shakespeare story what Jean Rhys did for Jane Eyre , inhabiting it, enlarging it and enriching it in ways that will alter the readers view for ever" --Patrick Gale, author of A Place Called Winter "Exquisite, immersive and compelling... deserves to win prizes" --Marian Keyes, author of The Break "I don't know how anyone could fail to love this book. It is a marvel: a great work of imaginative recreation and a great story. It is also a moral achievement to have transformed that young child from being a literary footnote into someone so tenderly alive that part of you wishes he had survived and Hamlet never been written" --Dominic Dromgoole, author of Hamlet, Globe to Globe
