Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Maggie O’Farrell’s first historical novel Hamnet is dominating media. With less than a week to publication, it has already been picked in 25 book previews for 2020. The Observer called it ‘the novel of her career’ and chose it as their ‘fiction book of the day’, while The Sunday Times praised O’Farrell’s ‘richly sensuous present-tense writing’.
Glowing PR coverage this week so far:
- BBC Best Books of 2020
- Feature in The Sunday Telegraph
- Review in The Sunday Telegraph
- Feature in the METRO
- Review in The Observer
- Review in The Scotsman
- Interview in The Herald
- BBC Radio 4’s Front Row reviewed Hamnet on Friday, 27th March
- O’Farrell on BBC Newsnight on Friday, 27th March
- Interview with Good Housekeeping – p. 180
- Interview with Red Magazine – p.77
- Q&A in Woman and Home – p.171
- Review in the Evening Standard
- Interview with Kate Kallaway in The Observer
- Review in The Sunday Times
- Book of the Day in The Guardian
- Best new Fiction in Mail Online
- Books of the Month in The Independent
- 10 Books to buy in March in Stylist
With an immersive story line that is set to transport readers to the late 16th-century rural England, far away from the troubles of today, Hamnet is the perfect book to read while self-isolating. Hamnet publishes 31 March from Tinder Press.
O’Farrell will be doing many virtual live events which you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home.
Virtual events coming up:
31 March, 8.00pm: Virtual launch party, hosted on Maggie O’Farrell’s husband’s Twitter @Will_Sutcliffe8
1 April, 8.00pm: My VLF – Virtual Literary Festival
2 April, 7.00pm: I AM in Print
3 April, 8.00pm: The Stay-at Home! Festival
8 May: The Big Book Weekend
Praise for Hamnet
‘Incredible… Transformative for the genre.’ – Damian Barr
‘A bold undertaking, beautifully imagined and written.’ – Claire Tomalin
‘Fearlessly inventive… Such a haunting, sad and sensuous novel.’ – Patrick Gale
‘A masterpiece… You will be blown away by this novel.’ – Hannah Beckerman
‘It’s stunning. Historical fiction, the writing is exquisite, immersive and compelling. [O’Farrell’s] best book yet.’ – Marian Keyes
‘Dazzling. Devastating.’ – Kamila Shamsie
‘A great work of imaginative recreation and a great story. It is also a moral achievement to have transformed that young child from being a literary footnote, into someone so tenderly alive, that part of you wishes he had survived and Hamlet never been written.’ – Dominic Dromgoole
‘Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it.’ – Sarah Moss
‘HAMNET is a beautiful read, a devastating one, intricate, and breathtakingly imaginative. It will stay with me a long time.’ – Rachel Joyce
‘What could be more common, over centuries and continents, than the death of a child – and yet Maggie O’Farrell, with her flawless sentences and furious heart, somehow makes it new. This story of remarkable people bereft of their boy will leave you shaking with loss but also the love from which family is spun.’ – Emma Donoghue
‘A masterpiece. Historical fiction at its finest’ – Stacey Halls
