Hamnet (novel)

Hamnet
First edition
AuthorMaggie O'Farrell
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical fiction
Published31 March 2020
PublisherTinder Press
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages384
AwardsWomen's Prize (2020),
National Book Critics (2020)
ISBN978-1472223791
(1st ed. UK Hardcover)
OCLC1104658967
823/.914
LC ClassPR6065.F36 H35 2020

Hamnet is a 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. It is a fictional account of William Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, who died at age eleven in 1596, focusing on his parents' grief. In Canada, the novel was published under the title Hamnet & Judith.[1]

In 2020, the book won the Women's Prize for Fiction[2] and National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction; that December, it was also chosen as Waterstones' Book Of The Year.[3] The following year, it was named "Novel of the Year" at the Dalkey Literary Awards,[4] was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize,[5] and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.[6] It was described in Literary Review as "a rich story by any stretch of the imagination, and O'Farrell's stretches much, much further than most of ours."[7]

  1. ^ "Hamnet and Judith". CBC Books. 9 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Novel about Shakespeare's son wins fiction prize". BBC News. 9 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  3. ^ Beer, Tom (25 March 2021). "National Book Critics Circle Presents Awards". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Winner of the Novel of the Year 2021". www.zurich.ie. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Australians comprise majority of Walter Scott Prize shortlist". Books+Publishing. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  6. ^ "2021 Winners". Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence. 18 October 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  7. ^ France, Miranda (31 March 2020). "Love in the Time of Plague". Literary Review.