Hamnet (Unabridged)
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4.3 • 393 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
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!
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this imaginative “what if” historical account, fledgling playwright William Shakespeare is off to seek his fortune in London—but the most compelling drama happens with the family he leaves behind. Historians don’t know much about the Bard’s private life, but Maggie O’Farrell’s glorious novel imagines an intimate and engrossing story told from the perspective of his wife, Agnes. Blessed with the gift of psychic visions and a knowledge of plants, Agnes works as a local healer when she’s not caring for her three children. We loved being immersed in the rich everyday life of 16th-century England with her as our guide. But when Agnes and William’s 11-year-old son Hamnet dies, it leaves O’Farrell’s heroine utterly shattered—and inspires her absent husband to write one of his greatest works. Rich with warmth and playfulness despite the real-life tragedy at its center, Hamnet conjures a vivid portrait of an aspiring artist, an incredibly resilient woman, and the uncontrollable forces that shape them both. The story is mostly fiction, but its message about the humanity behind any great work of art still rings true.
Customer Reviews
Slow
But good
Stunning, Gorgeous, Absorbing!
The writing, I dare say, is peerless. The narration is captivating. The narrator, Ell Potter captivatingly interprets every nuance of the text without ever slipping into sing-song rhythm that defeats so many audiobooks. What an incredible piece of work🙌
How I wish we could audio books by narrator and production team!
Masterful
I did not want this book to end. Maggie O’Farrell brilliantly crafts her text with the passion of a poet. The beauty of this book will stay with me. I will hear narrator Ell Potter’s lovely voice a long time.