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The no. 1 bestseller that inspired the major film starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal

‘A thing of shimmering wonder’ David Mitchell

A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.

The untold love story that inspired Shakespeare’s greatest masterpiece.

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 powerful story of Agnes and Will, and of the son whose life has been all but forgotten, but who inspired one of the greatest plays ever written.

🌟Fall in love with HAMNET this year 🌟

‘HAMNET is a feast for the senses’

‘One of my favourite books of the year. Simply gorgeous’

‘Words fail me… this story had me feeling everything’

‘I read and reread passages throughout this exceptional novel’

Publisher Review

A staggeringly beautiful and unbearably poignant novel. O’Farrell is one of the most surprisingly quiet radicals in fiction * Scotsman * The novel of her career… everyone I know who has managed to get hold of a copy is absolutely in love with it * Observer * Richly sensuous…something special * Sunday Times * A bold undertaking. Beautifully imagined and written * Claire Tomalin * A beautiful read. A devastating one. Intricate, and breathtakingly imaginative * Rachel Joyce * [A] rich imagining of the lives of Shakespeare’s family enchants… O’Farrell’s remarkable novel bursts with life * Sunday Telegraph * Blisteringly brilliant… You’ll lap up this intricately told story of grief, love and the bond between twins * Cosmopolitan * Heartstopping. Hamnet does for the Shakespeare story what Jean Rhys did for Jane Eyre, inhabiting, enlarging and enriching it in ways that will alter the reader’s view for ever — Patrick Gale Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it — Sarah Moss The story of Hamnet Shakespeare has been waiting in the shadows for over four hundred years. Maggie O’Farrell brings it dazzlingly, devastatingly, into the light — Kamila Shamsie Stunning. The writing is exquisite, immersive and compelling… deserves to win prizes — Marian Keyes