Maggie O. Farrell Books

The new children’s book from multi-award-winning author of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell, paired once more with Daniela Terrazzini’s stunning illustrations.When Jem and his family move to the countryside, he doesn’t like his new home one bit. It’s an old cottage on the side of a hill, where strange things keep happening: shoes are filled up with conkers, the stairs become tangled in a woollen maze. Jem’s sister Verity is certain it is the work of a “nouka”, an ancient creature from local folklore that lives deep down inside the hill. Jem, however, is adamant that there is no such thing.But this small mythical creature, so attuned to the hearts and minds of others, does exist. And, what’s more, it is determined, through mischief and mayhem, to help Jem reignite the spark within himself once more.

Have you ever woken up suddenly, in the middle of the night, without knowing why? Best-selling and award-winning master storyteller Maggie O'Farrell weaves an extraordinary and compelling modern fairy tale about the bravery of a little girl and the miracle of a snowy day. Sylvie wakes one night, suddenly, without knowing why. Then she sees the most spectacular sight - a pair of wings, enormous in size, made of the softest snow-white feathers imaginable. An angel in her bedroom ... a SNOW angel! He tells her that he is here to look after her, for Sylvie is not as well as she seems... Many months later, as Sylvie recovers from her illness, she longs to see her snow angel again. He saved her life! There is so much she wants to tell him, so much she wants to know! Will he ever come back to her? And how can Sylvie make sure that everyone she loves has their own snow angel, to keep them safe, too?

Exploring sisterly affection, the narrative follows two sisters on a journey of self-discovery and rediscovery of their voices. Through beautiful illustrations, the story delves into the complexities of their relationship, highlighting the themes of identity and connection. The author, known for their previous work, weaves a poignant tale that resonates with anyone who has navigated the bonds of family and the search for personal authenticity.

"Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet. Drawing on her long-term fascination with the little-known story behind Shakespeare's most enigmatic play, Maggie O'Farrell writes Hamnet as a luminous portrait of a marriage and at its heart the loss of a beloved child."--Publisher description.

"An extraordinary memoir--told entirely in near-death experiences--from one of Britain's best-selling novelists"--

Alice Raikes takes a train from London to Scotland to visit her family, but when she gets there she witnesses something so shocking that she insists on returning to London immediately. A few hours later, Alice is lying in a coma after an accident that may or may not have been a suicide attempt. Alice's family gathers at her bedside and as they wait, argue, and remember, long-buried tensions emerge. The more they talk, the more they seem to conceal. Alice, meanwhile, slides between varying levels of consciousness, recalling her past and a love affair that recently ended. A riveting story that skips through time and interweaves multiple points of view, After You'd Gone is a novel of stunning psychological depth and marks the debut of a major literary talent.

The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the acclaimed author of Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait is a dazzling evocation of the Italian Renaissance in all its beauty and brutality. Winter, 1561. Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is taken on an unexpected visit to a country villa by her husband, Alfonso. As they sit down to dinner it occurs to Lucrezia that Alfonso has a sinister purpose in bringing her here. He intends to kill her. Lucrezia is sixteen years old, and has led a sheltered life locked away inside Florence's grandest palazzo. Here, in this remote villa, she is entirely at the mercy of her increasingly erratic husband. What is Lucrezia to do with this sudden knowledge? What chance does she have against Alfonso, ruler of a province, and a trained soldier? How can she ensure her survival. The Marriage Portrait is an unforgettable reimagining of the life of a young woman whose proximity to power places her in mortal danger.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD. SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READER AWARDS. SHORTLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE SOCIETY FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR. SHORTLISTED FOR THE BGE IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR. A top-ten bestseller, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE by Maggie O'Farrell crosses time zones and continents to reveal an extraordinary portrait of a marriage. 'A complex, riveting novel of love and hope that grips at the heart' The Sunday Times A reclusive ex-film star living in the wilds of Ireland, Claudette Wells is a woman whose first instinct, when a stranger approaches her home, is to reach for her shotgun. Why is she so fiercely protective of her family, and what made her walk out of her cinematic career when she had the whole world at her feet? Her husband Daniel, reeling from a discovery about a woman he last saw twenty years ago, is about to make an exit of his own. It is a journey that will send him off-course, far away from the life he and Claudette have made together. Will their love for one another be enough to bring Daniel back home?

Winner of the 2010 Costa Novel Award and a Sunday Times bestseller 2010, THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE by Maggie O'Farrell is a gorgeously written story of love and motherhood from the author of THIS MUST BE THE PLACE. When the sophisticated Innes Kent turns up on her doorstep, Lexie Sinclair realises she cannot wait any longer for her life to begin, and leaves for London. There, at the heart of the 1950s Soho art scene, she carves out a new life. In the present day, Elina and Ted are reeling from the difficult birth of their first child. Elina struggles to reconcile the demands of motherhood with her sense of herself as an artist, and Ted is disturbed by memories of his own childhood that don't tally with his parents' version of events. As Ted begins to search for answers, an extraordinary portrait of two women is revealed, separated by fifty years, but connected in ways that neither could ever have expected.

From the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of HAMNET and I AM, I AM, I AM, comes an intense, breathtakingly accomplished story of a woman's life stolen, and reclaimed. 'Unputdownable' Ali Smith Edinburgh in the 1930s. The Lennox family is having trouble with its youngest daughter. Esme is outspoken, unconventional, and repeatedly embarrasses them in polite society. Something will have to be done. Years later, a young woman named Iris Lockhart receives a letter informing her that she has a great-aunt in a psychiatric unit who is about to be released. Iris has never heard of Esme Lennox and the one person who should know more, her grandmother Kitty, seems unable to answer Iris's questions. What could Esme have done to warrant a lifetime in an institution? And how is it possible for a person to be so completely erased from a family's history?

From Maggie O'Farrell, bestselling author of AFTER YOU'D GONE and THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE, comes a gripping novel about the way childhood fears can haunt adult lives. On a cold February afternoon, Stella catches sight of a man she hasn't seen for many years, but she instantly recognises him. Or thinks she does. At the same moment on the other side of the globe, in the middle of a crowd of Chinese New Year revellers, Jake realises that things are becoming dangerous. They know nothing of one another's existence, but both Stella and Jake flee their lives: Jake in search of a place so remote it doesn't appear on any map, and Stella for a destination in Scotland, the significance of which only her sister, Nina, will understand. Gripping, insightful and deft, this is Maggie O'Farrell's finest achievement to date.

A story of a dysfunctional but deeply loveable family reunited, set during the legendary summer of 1976, INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE by Maggie O'Farrell was shortlisted for the 2013 Costa Novel Award and was a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller (2013). It's July 1976. In London, it hasn't rained for months, gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back. The search for Robert brings Gretta's children - two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce - back home, each with different ideas as to where their father might have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share.

After Klaus Lehmann's death in the village of Steerborough, a young woman, Lily, arrives to research his life and work. Poring over Klaus' letters to his wife Elsa, Lily pieces together the story of their lives. And alone in her rented cottage by the sea, she begins to sense an absence in her own life that may not be filled by simply going home.

A compulsive and haunting tale of the passion, betrayal, sensuality and ambiguity at the heart of shifting metropolitan lives schovat popis

Das erste Kinderbuch von Maggie O’Farrell erzählt die märchenhafte Geschichte von Lina und ihrem geheimnisvollen Schnee-Engel, der ihr während einer Krankheit beisteht. Mit zauberhaften Illustrationen von Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini ist es perfekt für kuschelige Vorlesestunden und Gute-Nacht-Geschichten.

"Химерниця Агнес читає людські душі й зцілює тіла. Слава про незвичайні здібності дівчини-сокільниці шириться по околицях. Аж ось вона вже віддана дружина та мати, обробляє орендований у брата клаптик землі — відьмацький садочок Агнес. Збирає лікарські рослини, дбає про дітей і пасіку. Тим часом її чоловік Вільям підкорює лондонську сцену. Та одного дня смерть переступає їхній поріг і попри всі намагання Агнес щось змінити забирає одинадцятирічного Гамнета. Втрата сина змінює стосунки між чоловіком та жінкою, які колись кохали одне одного до нестями. Між ними виростає стіна з потужного болю та безпорадності. Але чотири роки по тому Вільям Шекспір створює п’єсу «Гамлет», відроджуючи і свого сина, і свій шлюб." --

»Er blickt dich an und sieht, was du um jeden Preis verbergen willst.« Ein Mal hat Lucrezia den Mann gesehen, mit dem sie als Zwölfjährige verheiratet werden soll. Am Hof von Florenz wächst die Tochter aus dem Hause Medici auf wie in einem goldenen Käfig. Niemand versteht das künstlerisch begabte, feinsinnige Mädchen, das lieber mit Tieren spricht als mit den Geschwistern – außer ihrem Zukünftigen, Alfonso, der ihr tief in die Seele zu schauen scheint. Bringt das Leben mit dem Herzog von Ferrara ihr die ersehnte Freiheit? Oder doch den Tod? »O’Farrell ist eine Meisterin der Gegenwärtigkeit. Sie schafft es, vergangene Zeiten so unmittelbar zu beschreiben, als atme man deren Sein.« Brigitte Woman »Ein fein ziselierter, modern anmutender psychologischer Roman. Die Sätze fließen unangestrengt, doch anspielungsreich, die Figuren kommen uns nahe.« Neue Zürcher Zeitung »Ganz große Kunst!« emotion

"Originally published in Great Britain in 1991 by Hamish Hamilton Ltd."--Title page verso.

The stunning new novel from Costa Award-winning novelist Maggie O'Farrell: a portrait of an Irish family in crisis in the legendary heatwave of 1976. It's July 1976. In London, it hasn't rained for months, gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back. The search for Robert brings Gretta's children — two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce — back home, each with different ideas as to where their father might have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share. Maggie O'Farrell's sixth book is the work of an outstanding novelist at the height of her powers.

La extraña desaparición de Esme Lennox es una historia inquietante que explora las convenciones sociales y la complejidad de los lazos familiares. Ante el cierre del hospital psiquiátrico de Cauldstone en Edimburgo, Iris recibe la noticia de que debe hacerse cargo de su tía abuela Esme, quien será liberada tras más de sesenta años de internamiento. La sorpresa inicial de Iris, que no conocía a Esme, se transforma en curiosidad. ¿Qué llevó a la reclusión de Esme a los dieciséis años? ¿Por qué su historia fue ocultada durante tanto tiempo? A través de los recuerdos de Esme y de las escasas lucideces de su abuela Kitty, Iris reconstruye la vida de las dos hermanas, desde su infancia en la India hasta su juventud en Escocia, donde la joven Esme desafió las rígidas normas de la alta burguesía escocesa, enfrentándose a una terrible exclusión. A medida que se revelan secretos familiares, el suspense crece hasta un desenlace impactante. La autora, reconocida por su talento en la narrativa escocesa, logra mantener al lector en vilo hasta la última página, explorando la opresión de los secretos familiares y el poder transformador de la verdad.