Books by Maggie O'Farrell
Maggie O’Farrell is a British novelist.
The Marriage Portrait: A Novel
by Maggie O'Farrell & narrated by Genevieve Gaunt
☆ Shortlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction
“I liked what Claire Allfree had to say about it in The Times: “So headily perfumed is her prose it works on the reader almost like a drug.” Sound good? Then I suspect this historical romance (of a kind) will work for you.” Cal Flyn in Notable Novels of Fall 2022
“O’Farrell’s novel is richly atmospheric and deeply researched, although she has altered some historical details for narrative effect. It met with a somewhat mixed critical reception on publication but has found a wide and largely appreciative fan base. If you enjoy lushly descriptive historical fiction, this will be the book for you.” Read more...
The 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
Hamnet
by Maggie O'Farrell
🏆 Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020
Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet, a fictionalised account of the short life of Shakespeare’s son, is read beautifully as an audiobook by Ell Potter.
Narrator: Ell Potter
Listening time: 12 hours and 42 minutes
“It reexamines the life and legacy of Shakespeare’s wife Agnes. O’Farrell has spoken about how Shakespeare’s many historians have, in the past, ridiculed Agnes. She’s been much maligned. O’Farrell’s book is all from Agnes’s perspective. It’s about her life as a woman and her particular skillset. I mean, she’s illiterate, but she has extraordinary gifts that her husband cannot understand. It also examines her as a mother—the title, is derived from the name of her and Shakespeare’s only son, who died from the plague. O’Farrell writes so deeply movingly about grief.” Read more...
Five of the Best Feminist Historical Novels
Flora Carr, Novelist
Interviews where books by Maggie O'Farrell were recommended
Five of the Best Feminist Historical Novels, recommended by Flora Carr
In recent years there has been a boom in fiction that reimagines stories of the past—tales that have traditionally been told by men—through female eyes. Here, the writer Flora Carr recommends five of the best feminist historical novels, and reflects on the role of historical fiction in enhancing our understanding of the past.
The Best Historical Fiction: The 2021 Walter Scott Prize Shortlist, recommended by Katharine Grant
The Walter Scott Prize seeks to highlight the very best of historical fiction—and in 2021, we find the shortlist dominated by Australian writers. Katharine Grant, the acclaimed novelist and chair of the judges, returns to Five Books to discuss the cream of this year’s crop, and the art of transforming the historical record into a creative exercise.
The 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist, recommended by Cal Flyn
Every year, the Women’s Prize for Fiction highlights the best novels written by women over the previous twelve months. In 2023, the six-strong Women’s Prize shortlist features the latest books by beloved bestsellers Barbara Kingsolver and Maggie O’Farrell, plus a debut novel set during the siege of Sarajevo and a book told primarily from the point of view of a dolphin.
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1
The Marriage Portrait: A Novel
by Maggie O'Farrell & narrated by Genevieve Gaunt -
2
The Maid
by Nita Prose & narrated by Lauren Ambrose -
3
You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays
by Zora Neale Hurston and narrated by Robin Miles -
4
Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound
by Lake Bell -
5
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss
by Amy Bloom
The Best Audiobooks of 2022, recommended by Robin Whitten
The Best Audiobooks of 2022, recommended by Robin Whitten
Every year AudioFile magazine reviews thousands of new audiobooks and in its annual best-of-the-year lists its editors include only books that make exceptional listening. Here Robin Whitten, AudioFile’s founder and editor, picks out five outstanding audiobooks in a range of genres and explains what it is that makes them special.
Notable New Novels of Fall 2022, recommended by Cal Flyn
Fall is a busy time in publishing, as the biggest names in fiction prepare to release new books in the months leading up to Christmas. Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn rounds up some of the most notable novels of Fall 2022—including two new books from the great American novelist Cormac McCarthy and a sumptuous work of historical fiction from Maggie O’Farrell.
Five Memoirs by Women, recommended by Dorothy Byrne
We have much to learn from the lives of women who came before us, says Dorothy Byrne, the British TV journalist and producer who is now president of a women’s college at the University of Cambridge. She recommends five of her favourite memoirs, all by women and notable for their searing truthfulness about everyday life.