Hamnet

Hamnet

By Maggie O'Farrell

Pages

389

Rating

4.32

Year

2020

FictionHistorical FictionHistoricalFamilyAudiobookBritish Literature

Description

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 is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright: a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

Two extraordinary people. A love that draws them together. A loss that threatens to tear them apart.

Endorsements

Winner of the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction

"Richly sensuous... something special" — The Sunday Times

"A thing of shimmering wonder" — David Mitchell

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Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell - Bookist