The writing is exquisite, immersive and compelling... deserves to win prizes

The story of Hamnet Shakespeare has been waiting in the shadows for over four hundred years. Maggie O'Farrell brings it dazzlingly, devastatingly, into the light

Grief and loss so finely written I could hardly bear to read it

Heartstopping. Hamnet does for the Shakespeare story what Jean Rhys did for Jane Eyre, inhabiting, enlarging and enriching it in ways that will alter the reader's view for ever

Blisteringly brilliant... You'll lap up this intricately told story of grief, love and the bond between twins * Cosmopolitan *

[A] rich imagining of the lives of Shakespeare's family enchants... O'Farrell's remarkable novel bursts with life * Sunday Telegraph *

A beautiful read. A devastating one. Intricate, and breathtakingly imaginative * Rachel Joyce *

A bold undertaking. Beautifully imagined and written * Claire Tomalin *

Richly sensuous...something special * Sunday Times *

The novel of her career... everyone I know who has managed to get hold of a copy is absolutely in love with it * Observer *

A staggeringly beautiful and unbearably poignant novel. O'Farrell is one of the most surprisingly quiet radicals in fiction * Scotsman *