Hamnet: Read the bestselling book before you see the award winning film (PB)

www.kirkusreviews.com, Starred Review "A gripping drama of the conflict between love and destiny."

WINNER: WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION WINNER: FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

womensprize.com annoucement Head Judge comment "Hamnet, while set long ago, like all truly great novels expresses something profound about the human experience that seems both extraordinarily current and at the same time, enduring."

BRITISH BOOK AWARDS WINNER: BOOKS ARE MY BAG READER'S CHOICE

AWARD WINNER: NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

A SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

SHORTLISTED: AN POST IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR, WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION

TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE.

A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER.

A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.
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.

Maggie O'Farrell is the author of HAMNET, Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020, and the memoir I AM, I AM, I AM, both Sunday Times no. 1 bestsellers. Her novels include AFTER YOU'D GONE, MY LOVER'S LOVER, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, which won a Somerset Maugham Award, THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX, THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE, which won the 2010 Costa Novel Award, INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE and THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT, which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize. She is also the author of three books for children, WHERE SNOW ANGELS GO, THE BOY WHO LOST HIS SPARK and WHEN THE STAMMER CAME TO STAY.

Paperback, 384 pages

H: 198mm W: 130mm Spine: 30mm

Weight: 331 grams