Land by Maggie O’Farrell review – an ambitious story of mapmaking in Ireland
Set in the aftermath of the famine, the Hamnet author’s family saga folds in myth and folklore
May 2026
Maggie O’Farrell: ‘Fiction comes from what you don’t know’
From a young age, the authorwas told that one of her ancestors had drawn some of the first maps of Ireland. Then she found a photograph, and embarked on a journey to discover his story
March 2026
Plan to turn Irish borderlands into Unesco ‘region of literature’
Arts group proposes literary routes across 11 counties linked to writers from Jonathan Swift to Lisa McGee
February 2026
Ranked
More heartache than Hamnet?: Maggie O’Farrell’s best books – ranked!
As her Women’s prize-winning novel heads to the Oscars, we rate the author’s best work – from tales of new motherhood to a life-affirming memoir of mortality
January 2026
Hamnet review – Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley beguile and captivate in audacious Shakespearean tragedy
Chloé Zhao’s film version of Maggie O’Farrell’s myth-making novel powerfully reimagines the agonising loss of a child as the source of Hamlet’s grand stage drama
December 2025
Books to look out for in 2026 – fiction
Maggie O’Farrell, Yann Martel and Julian Barnes are among the authors publishing new novels this year
September 2025
First look review
Hamnet review – Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal excel in stately Shakespeare drama with overwhelming finale
The two stars are knockouts in Chloé Zhao’s poignant adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel with a stirring tearjerker ending
December 2024
There is hope for those of us who stammer
Letters: Reader Bob Dawson offers encouragement to those – like him – who have lived with the speech disorder
November 2024
Novelist Maggie O’Farrell: ‘Children don’t just need butterflies and rainbows’
This much I know
Maggie O’Farrell: ‘Having a stammer was instrumental in making me a writer’
January 2024
Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley to star in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet
All of Us Strangers actor will play William Shakespeare alongside Buckley as his wife in film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel
July 2023
This month's best paperbacks
This month’s best paperbacks: Colm Tóibín, Maggie O’Farrell and more
Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some excellent new paperbacks, from an elegant essay collection to a Women’s prize shortlisted novel
June 2023
Top 10s
Top 10 summer love stories
With holidays, light evenings and heat, it is a season that goes naturally with romance, as authors from F Scott Fitzgerald to Maggie O’Farrell show
Summer books: Zadie Smith, Ian Rankin, Richard Osman and others pick their favourites
Leading authors recommend the best recent books, from a forbidden love affair at the Western Front to a murder mystery set in Egypt
Maggie O’Farrell leads sales ahead of Women’s prize for fiction announcement
Historical novel The Marriage Portrait has sold 72,819 copies – more than any other title on the 2023 Women’s prize shortlist
April 2023
The Guardian view on older artists: bridging history and personal life
Editorial: Their new works may be their last, but the contribution of these maestros are still making is invaluable to our world view
Three debut novels compete among Women’s prize for fiction shortlist
First-time novelists are joined by two former winners on the diverse list, as the six ‘ambitious and hard-hitting’ contenders are revealed
The week in theatre: Hamnet; You Bury Me; Pussycat in Memory of Darkness – review
