Book Club Meets: Grief, women in history, and Elizabethan magic, with Maggie O’Farrell

Happy Place with Fearne Cotton

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Thursday, 5 February 2026 - 30 minutes

You might have recently seen Hamnet at the cinema, but did you read the book along with the Happy Place Book Club in January?In this chat, Fearne and author Maggie O’Farrell talk about how Jessie Buckley’s award-winning performance brought Agnes to life in the film, why it’s vital to remember women’s place in history, and why Maggie chose not to name Shakespeare in the book.Maggie uses her intuition when she’s writing, and talks about why she doesn’t really plan what voice or tense to style she’s going to write in.Plus, Maggie reveals some of the Elizabethan pursuits she took up during her research phase, including flying Kestrels and making herbal cold remedies... And Fearne reads out what she reckons is "the sexiest paragraph ever written"!Thank you to Tinder Press for use of the Hamnet audiobook, narrated by Jessie Buckley.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:Book Club Meets: Nussaibah YounisBook Club Meets: Elizabeth DayBook Club Meets: Elizabeth Gilbert Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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