WINNER OF THE 2020 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
 
'Richly sensuous . . .  something special'
The Sunday Times
 
'A thing of shimmering wonder'
David Mitchell
 
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.