Hamnet Audiobook By Maggie O'Farrell cover art

Hamnet

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Hamnet

By: Maggie O'Farrell
Narrated by: Ell Potter
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • Now a major motion picture starring ACADEMY AWARD® winner Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, and Joe Alwyn, directed by Chloé Zhao.

The acclaimed author of the Reese's Book Club pick The Marriage Portrait delivers a deeply moving novel about the death of Shakespeare’s eleven-year-old son, Hamnet, and the years leading up to the production of his great play Hamlet.

"Miraculous. . . . Brilliant. . . . A novel told with the urgency of a whispered prayer—or curse. . . . A richly drawn and intimate portrait of 16th-century English life set against the arrival of one devastating death." —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

England, 1580: The Black Death creeps across the land, an ever-present threat, infecting the healthy, the sick, the old and the young alike. The end of days is near, but life always goes on.

A young Latin tutor—penniless and bullied by a violent father—falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman. 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 just taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever.

Hamnet is mesmerizing, seductive, impossible to put down—a magnificent leap forward from one of our most gifted novelists.

Accolades & Awards

National Book Critics Circle Award
2020
Biographical Fiction Family Life Literary Fiction Literary History & Criticism National Book Critics Circle Award England Marriage Fiction Genre Fiction Heartfelt Biography
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Featured Article: All the World's a Stage—The Best Shakespeare Plays in Audio


If there’s one writer whose work translates spectacularly to audio format, it’s the Bard. Hearing Shakespeare’s dialog masterfully performed by professionals with the correct emphasis and tone can make all the difference in catching every clever joke and innuendo, picking up on subtle foreshadowing, and sometimes even understanding the plot itself. Here are our choices for the best Shakespeare audiobooks to add to your library today.

Featured Article All the World's a Stage The Best Shakespeare Plays in Audio
Beautiful Writing • Emotional Storytelling • Mesmerizing Voice • Rich Character Development • Historical Authenticity

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I found myself in tears (while exercising at the gym) in several places in the book. Ms O’Farrell creates a set of characters that I cared deeply about and a few that I greatly disliked. And the narration is completely up to the standard of the writing.

Beautiful writing and narration

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I did not want to put the story down. Even after competing the book, the characters are not leaving me.

Riveting

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The performance is over dramatic which quickly became tiring. It was more bearable when I increased the speed.

overwrought performance

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As a lover of history and the discovery of new information, I found this novel to be wonderful. The storyline and concept behind it is so captivating. The performance, choice of narrator, was exceptional. Love her delivery and voice. A totally enjoyable experience.

Historical MAGIC

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So well written. Clairvoyant insights into the emotions of the characters. I power-listened to this novel... I couldn't stop.

Phenomenal! I need to see the play Hamlet again

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