Maggie O'Farrell FRSL (born 1972) is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Her acclaimed first novel, After You'd Gone, won the Betty Trask Award and a later one, The Hand That First Held Mine, the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She has twice been shortlisted since for the Costa Novel Award for Instructions for a Heatwave in 2014 and This Must Be The Place in 2017. Her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death reached the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list. Her novel Hamnet won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020, the fiction prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards, and was co-adapted for the screen with Chloe Zhao in 2025. Her 2022 historical novel The Marriage Portrait was shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction.
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👉 Maggie O'Farrell in the context of Hamnet (novel)
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.
In 2020, the book won the Women's Prize for Fiction and National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction; that December, it was also chosen as Waterstones' Book Of The Year. The following year, it was named "Novel of the Year" at the Dalkey Literary Awards, was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize, and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. 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."
- ⭐ Core Definition: Maggie O'Farrell
- 👉 Maggie O'Farrell in the context of Hamnet (novel)
- Maggie O'Farrell in the context of Hamnet Shakespeare
- Maggie O'Farrell in the context of Hamnet (film)
- Maggie O'Farrell in the context of After You'd Gone
- Maggie O'Farrell in the context of The Hand That First Held Mine
Maggie O'Farrell in the context of Hamnet Shakespeare
Hamnet Shakespeare (baptised 2 February 1585 – buried 11 August 1596) was the only son of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, and the fraternal twin of Judith Shakespeare. The twins were probably named after Hamnet Sadler, a baker who witnessed Shakespeare's will, and the baker's wife, Judith. Hamnet died at the age of 11. Some Shakespearean scholars speculate on the relationship between Hamnet and his father's later play Hamlet, as well as on possible connections between Hamnet's death and the writing of King John, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Twelfth Night.
Hamnet found cultural representation in 21st-century works such as Neil Gaiman's comic book The Sandman, the 2018 film All Is True, Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 book Hamnet and its 2025 film adaptation, as well as the comedy drama series Upstart Crow (2016–2020).
Maggie O'Farrell in the context of Hamnet (film)
Hamnet is a 2025 historical drama film co-edited and directed by Chloé Zhao, who co-wrote the screenplay with Maggie O'Farrell, the author of the title novel this film is based on. The film's largely fictional story dramatises the marriage between Anne Hathaway (Agnes Hathaway in the novel and film) and William Shakespeare, and the impact of the tragic death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet on their relationship, which inspires Shakespeare's play Hamlet. It stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal as Agnes and William, alongside Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn in supporting roles.
Hamnet premiered at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival on 29 August 2025 and received a limited theatrical release by Focus Features in the United States and Canada on 26 November. It received a wide theatrical release on 5 December and is set to be released by Universal Pictures in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2026. The film received critical acclaim, with the performances of Buckley and Mescal receiving particular praise. It was listed among the top ten films of 2025 by the American Film Institute.
Maggie O'Farrell in the context of After You'd Gone
After You'd Gone is Northern Irish author Maggie O'Farrell's debut novel. Published in 2000 by Headline Review, it garnered 'international acclaim' and won a Betty Trask Award.
O'Farrell began writing the story that would later become "After You'd Gone" during an Arvon Foundation course in Yorkshire, where it received high praise from her tutors, Barbara Trapido and Elspeth Barker.
Maggie O'Farrell in the context of The Hand That First Held Mine
The Hand that First Held Mine is a novel by British author Maggie O'Farrell, published in 2010 by Headline Review.
The book is a work of literary fiction that juxtaposes two seemingly unrelated narratives: one set in 1950s London, following an ambitious young woman named Lexie Sinclair who moves from rural Devon to the postwar Soho art scene, and another in the present day, centered around Elina Vilkuna, an artist coping with the challenges of new motherhood. Through alternating chapters, O'Farrell explores themes such as love, memory, identity, and the transformative nature of motherhood. The connection between the two women's lives gradually unfolds as the novel progresses, culminating in a revelation that links them across generations.