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Land
Win a free print copy of this book!
5 days and 09:50:07
10 copies available
Canada only
'You will never understand how the land remembers, how deep the roots grow'
A spellbinding story of separation, longing, recovery and survival as a family makes a new home in the aftermath of tragedy.
On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.
The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home?
Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.
A spellbinding story of separation, longing, recovery and survival as a family makes a new home in the aftermath of tragedy.
On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.
The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home?
Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.
17 pages, Audible Audio
First published June 2, 2026
About the author
Maggie O'Farrell
45 books18.8k followersMaggie O'Farrell (born 1972, Coleraine Northern Ireland) is a British author of contemporary fiction, who features in Waterstones' 25 Authors for the Future. It is possible to identify several common themes in her novels - the relationship between sisters is one, another is loss and the psychological impact of those losses on the lives of her characters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
June 2, 2026
I thought I understood the Irish Potato Famine that killed more than a million people and sent millions more fleeing abroad. But a few years ago, during a tour of Trinity College Dublin, our guide paused to mention the Great Hunger.
He couldn’t have been more than 30 years old, but the fury in his voice had not cooled since the 1850s. The cruelty of the British government, its catastrophic inaction in the face of mass starvation — that wasn’t history to this young man. It felt as raw and immediate as the loss of his own siblings.
Maggie O’Farrell, who was born in Northern Ireland, opens her new novel, Land, in 1865, during the stunned aftermath of the Great Hunger, on the famine-scarred west coast of Ireland. Towns have shriveled. Villages have emptied. Rows of empty cottages have succumbed to rot.
It’s here on a damp, windswept promontory that we find a pair of Irishmen, Tomás and his dutiful 10-year-old son, Liam. They’re working for the British army, part of the enormous Ordnance Survey to map — and further subjugate — Ireland. Despite deeply conflicted feelings about his employer, Tomás is tireless and taciturn. Having survived the famine that took every member of his family, he knows the importance of steady work, the necessity of submission.
“He is the only one of their division,” O’Farrell writes, “who can measure and calculate, draw detailed draft maps in ink for the engravers to copy, and also converse with the people about where the boundaries lie, who owns which field, what this valley or that bluff is called and why, where might the ruins of this building be.”
As she demonstrated in Hamnet, her magnificent novel about the death of Shakespeare’s only son, O’Farrell once again opens up the past like she’s cracking a geode. Suddenly, the undulating fields are sparkling in the moist air, redolent with the incongruous scents of peat and political oppression.
Stomping into a copse to retrieve Liam’s lost boot, Tomás stumbles upon a....
You can read the rest of this review for free on Substack:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/in-...
He couldn’t have been more than 30 years old, but the fury in his voice had not cooled since the 1850s. The cruelty of the British government, its catastrophic inaction in the face of mass starvation — that wasn’t history to this young man. It felt as raw and immediate as the loss of his own siblings.
Maggie O’Farrell, who was born in Northern Ireland, opens her new novel, Land, in 1865, during the stunned aftermath of the Great Hunger, on the famine-scarred west coast of Ireland. Towns have shriveled. Villages have emptied. Rows of empty cottages have succumbed to rot.
It’s here on a damp, windswept promontory that we find a pair of Irishmen, Tomás and his dutiful 10-year-old son, Liam. They’re working for the British army, part of the enormous Ordnance Survey to map — and further subjugate — Ireland. Despite deeply conflicted feelings about his employer, Tomás is tireless and taciturn. Having survived the famine that took every member of his family, he knows the importance of steady work, the necessity of submission.
“He is the only one of their division,” O’Farrell writes, “who can measure and calculate, draw detailed draft maps in ink for the engravers to copy, and also converse with the people about where the boundaries lie, who owns which field, what this valley or that bluff is called and why, where might the ruins of this building be.”
As she demonstrated in Hamnet, her magnificent novel about the death of Shakespeare’s only son, O’Farrell once again opens up the past like she’s cracking a geode. Suddenly, the undulating fields are sparkling in the moist air, redolent with the incongruous scents of peat and political oppression.
Stomping into a copse to retrieve Liam’s lost boot, Tomás stumbles upon a....
You can read the rest of this review for free on Substack:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/in-...
April 19, 2026
A glimpse at Maggie O’Farrell’s creative process in her opening letter to her readers - where she was when first line of this story came to her, a story she knows she’s meant to write, inspired by her great-great-grandfather. From the first sentence to the last this extraordinarily beautiful and complex novel is why Maggie O’Farrell is one of my very favorite writers . It’s a profound, multilayered story telling of events in Ireland’s history depicted through the struggles of a family whose heartaches over the years become our heartaches as we share their fear, loss, grief, their love as they make their way in life.
In 1865 Ireland, a discovery is made as ten year old Liam is working with his father, a land surveyor for the red coats. They find a spring, magical waters perhaps that will forever change the lives of Liam, his father Tomas and their family in the years to come. The recent past is brought forward through Tomas’ memory in some horrific scenes of the Great Hunger, gut wrenching, heartbreaking and unbearable memories of the times of hunger and death when he was a young boy. Later through his wife’s unbearable memories we get a picture of the struggles and loss and suffering of her family. As the years pass, I came to love this whole family. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the kind and wise widow who helps all of them through their struggles and their loyal dog Bran.
O’Farrell’s masterful storytelling weaves together multiple time lines and characters, bridging the folklore magic of ancient times to a time we recognize in the present setting of 1865. The changes in time are seamless. She draws on magical realism and this with the fairytale like stories of a millennia earlier never feel too much. These elements belong here . This is the story of the land, how this family toils to sustain themselves off the land, how Tomas has to reluctantly work for the red coats in order to pay the rent on the land on which they live by naming places and relegating ownership which he knows divides people, a story of the people who lived on this land before them, a story that comes full circle to the land in the future. I’m left in awe.
“A seanchaí is a traditional Gaelic storyteller or historian, serving as an oral repository.” (Wikipedia). O’Farrell is the modern seanchai telling the stories through the written word with beautiful writing . I predict that this will be my favorite book of the year.
I received a copy of this book from Knopf through NetGalley.
In 1865 Ireland, a discovery is made as ten year old Liam is working with his father, a land surveyor for the red coats. They find a spring, magical waters perhaps that will forever change the lives of Liam, his father Tomas and their family in the years to come. The recent past is brought forward through Tomas’ memory in some horrific scenes of the Great Hunger, gut wrenching, heartbreaking and unbearable memories of the times of hunger and death when he was a young boy. Later through his wife’s unbearable memories we get a picture of the struggles and loss and suffering of her family. As the years pass, I came to love this whole family. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the kind and wise widow who helps all of them through their struggles and their loyal dog Bran.
O’Farrell’s masterful storytelling weaves together multiple time lines and characters, bridging the folklore magic of ancient times to a time we recognize in the present setting of 1865. The changes in time are seamless. She draws on magical realism and this with the fairytale like stories of a millennia earlier never feel too much. These elements belong here . This is the story of the land, how this family toils to sustain themselves off the land, how Tomas has to reluctantly work for the red coats in order to pay the rent on the land on which they live by naming places and relegating ownership which he knows divides people, a story of the people who lived on this land before them, a story that comes full circle to the land in the future. I’m left in awe.
“A seanchaí is a traditional Gaelic storyteller or historian, serving as an oral repository.” (Wikipedia). O’Farrell is the modern seanchai telling the stories through the written word with beautiful writing . I predict that this will be my favorite book of the year.
I received a copy of this book from Knopf through NetGalley.
March 7, 2026
An epic Irish story that takes you on quite a journey… starts off in 1865 after the years of the Great Hunger… it follows a family in an Irish peninsula… it’s a story of overlapping lives and haunting ghosts and tells the story of how the land remembers.
There are quite a few moments of magical realism but it pertains to the family history and history of the land.
Maggie O’Farrell’s writing is so good at transporting you to a time and place.
I loved all the family members but my goodness… there was tragedy after tragedy and I was just hoping throughout for something good to happen to them.
Regardless of the outcome, I enjoyed the journey.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available June 2
There are quite a few moments of magical realism but it pertains to the family history and history of the land.
Maggie O’Farrell’s writing is so good at transporting you to a time and place.
I loved all the family members but my goodness… there was tragedy after tragedy and I was just hoping throughout for something good to happen to them.
Regardless of the outcome, I enjoyed the journey.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available June 2
February 10, 2026
lol I literally cannot stop crying. Not because this was sad, but because I just….I loved it so much. Review to come when I can get myself together.
Okay I'm back...
I very well may have just read my favorite book of 2026. Reading Land felt like being told a Story with a capital S if that makes any sense. It felt like sitting at Maggie's feet, leaning further and further in the longer this magical epic went. This is so dramatic, but I cried for more than a little bit when this ended. Not because it was necessarily sad, but because it was so beautiful and I loved it so very much.
We open with a father (Tomas) and son (Liam) working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland in 1865. I learned through an introductory note from O'Farrell that her great-great grandfather worked on the early maps of Ireland not long after The Great Hunger, and researching his life was the impetus for this book. Tomas is determined to tell the real story through his maps of what the Red Coats did to his land and his people and not let the colonizer write that history.
Land is a sweeping story, covering the full lives of the parents and children and the land while also going further back and forward, making time feel not linear at all. It read like pure magic. Not just during the times O'Farrell inserts some magical realism, but all of it. Everything about this book feels alive. I knew every character inside and out. I knew the land and the family's house like it was a person. After all, it holds so much, from our buried loves on to our history and future. O'Farrell tells us that earth can be an ending to one story yet a beginning to another. The connections she makes between characters/the 4 parts of this story scratched the same itch for me that Hearts Invisible Furies did. The way the characters, at times, try imitate one another felt so Shakespearean.
Land leaves me with so much to think about. It sent me down a Gaelic Folklore rabbit hole. It left me stunned contemplating the idea of permanence and how it feels when something that is a constant, like the night sky, somehow isn't anymore. It left me considering honor and resistance in a new light and why leaving land might hurt worse than leaving existence entirely. And finally, it reminded me that my dad drew me a map for how to be, and while he isn't physically here anymore, I can still follow that map.
Okay I'm back...
I very well may have just read my favorite book of 2026. Reading Land felt like being told a Story with a capital S if that makes any sense. It felt like sitting at Maggie's feet, leaning further and further in the longer this magical epic went. This is so dramatic, but I cried for more than a little bit when this ended. Not because it was necessarily sad, but because it was so beautiful and I loved it so very much.
We open with a father (Tomas) and son (Liam) working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland in 1865. I learned through an introductory note from O'Farrell that her great-great grandfather worked on the early maps of Ireland not long after The Great Hunger, and researching his life was the impetus for this book. Tomas is determined to tell the real story through his maps of what the Red Coats did to his land and his people and not let the colonizer write that history.
Land is a sweeping story, covering the full lives of the parents and children and the land while also going further back and forward, making time feel not linear at all. It read like pure magic. Not just during the times O'Farrell inserts some magical realism, but all of it. Everything about this book feels alive. I knew every character inside and out. I knew the land and the family's house like it was a person. After all, it holds so much, from our buried loves on to our history and future. O'Farrell tells us that earth can be an ending to one story yet a beginning to another. The connections she makes between characters/the 4 parts of this story scratched the same itch for me that Hearts Invisible Furies did. The way the characters, at times, try imitate one another felt so Shakespearean.
Land leaves me with so much to think about. It sent me down a Gaelic Folklore rabbit hole. It left me stunned contemplating the idea of permanence and how it feels when something that is a constant, like the night sky, somehow isn't anymore. It left me considering honor and resistance in a new light and why leaving land might hurt worse than leaving existence entirely. And finally, it reminded me that my dad drew me a map for how to be, and while he isn't physically here anymore, I can still follow that map.
Want to Read
November 27, 2025Never clicked Want to Read faster, this is the best news all week
May 30, 2026
No one writes historical fiction like Maggie O’Farrell. Her prior works, Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait, remain my all time favorite works of the genre and the two books I always recommend to fans of historical fiction. After finishing her newest work Land, I'll recommend it as well!
Land is an epic saga that is essentially the story of Ireland. Maggie delves into the Green Isles' rich history and the people who have inhabited the land over the centuries. From the potato famine (the great hunger) and the oppression by the wealthy ruling British class, to colonization and the clash between old beliefs and the emergence of Catholicism, Land covers a bit of everything in Ireland’s long, rich history.
Maggie O’Farrell paints a vivid portrait that in her true form is filled with lyrical prose that's nothing short of breathtakingly beautiful. In my opinion, what makes a good book is one that's not only well written but also unforgettable. Land is one of those captivating journeys that sits with the reader long after finishing it.
Land was my number one most anticipated read of the year and it exceeded all of my expectations! I learned so much while reading Land, so much so that I’ll never think of Ireland the same after finishing.
I listened to the audiobook version which is read by Dane Whyte O’Hara who did a brilliant job bringing this compelling story to life. If you decide to pick this one up, I highly recommend this format.
Land by Maggie O’Farrell will be available on June 2. Many thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the gifted audiobook!
Land is an epic saga that is essentially the story of Ireland. Maggie delves into the Green Isles' rich history and the people who have inhabited the land over the centuries. From the potato famine (the great hunger) and the oppression by the wealthy ruling British class, to colonization and the clash between old beliefs and the emergence of Catholicism, Land covers a bit of everything in Ireland’s long, rich history.
Maggie O’Farrell paints a vivid portrait that in her true form is filled with lyrical prose that's nothing short of breathtakingly beautiful. In my opinion, what makes a good book is one that's not only well written but also unforgettable. Land is one of those captivating journeys that sits with the reader long after finishing it.
Land was my number one most anticipated read of the year and it exceeded all of my expectations! I learned so much while reading Land, so much so that I’ll never think of Ireland the same after finishing.
I listened to the audiobook version which is read by Dane Whyte O’Hara who did a brilliant job bringing this compelling story to life. If you decide to pick this one up, I highly recommend this format.
Land by Maggie O’Farrell will be available on June 2. Many thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the gifted audiobook!
January 12, 2026
Immersive and atmospheric, this magnificent novel took me on a journey through time as the fate of one Irish family is woven through the history and geography of the land on which they make their home. In a story that spans from Nordic invaders to English colonization, from the Great Famine to Canadian emigration, from the far-reaches of British empire to the source of a supernatural well, O'Farrell's gorgeous prose and rich descriptions gave me a visceral sense of Ireland's wonders and woes.
Read
May 11, 20264⭐
Maggie O’Farrell’s novel ‘Land’ was inspired by her great-great-grandfather, who worked on the Ordnance Survey maps in Ireland. It’s set in post-famine Ireland and spotlights a father and son who are working on the map survey. Tomas has been deeply affected by the loss of the Great Hunger and is driven to record it. Liam, his 10-year-old son, suffers the brunt of his father’s quest.
O’Farrell’s vivid and richly described setting brings Ireland alive for readers. I almost felt the mist on my arms and the wind on my back as I was walking over the dew-sprinkled lands alongside the father-son team. You’ll agree that the setting here is almost a character itself. All that we expect from an Irish setting - the woodlands, the lore, the misty forests - it’s all here and so very magical.
I enjoyed O’Farrell’s exploration of trauma, separation, and how the ripple effects of a man’s desperate drive to keep history alive in the face of so much upheaval affected so many.
I was gifted this copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.
Maggie O’Farrell’s novel ‘Land’ was inspired by her great-great-grandfather, who worked on the Ordnance Survey maps in Ireland. It’s set in post-famine Ireland and spotlights a father and son who are working on the map survey. Tomas has been deeply affected by the loss of the Great Hunger and is driven to record it. Liam, his 10-year-old son, suffers the brunt of his father’s quest.
O’Farrell’s vivid and richly described setting brings Ireland alive for readers. I almost felt the mist on my arms and the wind on my back as I was walking over the dew-sprinkled lands alongside the father-son team. You’ll agree that the setting here is almost a character itself. All that we expect from an Irish setting - the woodlands, the lore, the misty forests - it’s all here and so very magical.
I enjoyed O’Farrell’s exploration of trauma, separation, and how the ripple effects of a man’s desperate drive to keep history alive in the face of so much upheaval affected so many.
I was gifted this copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.
January 29, 2026
Many people will come to Land by Maggie O'Farrell because they have recently read or seen Hamnet, and they absolutely should. Maggie O'Farrell is one of my favorite modern authors. I have read nearly everything she's written, so I loved Land. The story begins with Tomas, a man surveying land in Ireland in 1865. You start by meeting his son and learning about the land. From there, however, the story expands to learn more about The Great Hunger, Irish history, folklore and beliefs, as well as the stories of Tomas' childhood and his current family. The story then expands further from there to follow each of his children. This story is beautiful, as all of Maggie O'Farrell's books are. She writes for people who love grammar and what additional layers exquisitely chosen grammar can add to meaning. That being said, some casual readers of Hamnet may find her descriptions long; this book is an epic; do not think otherwise! Many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this amazing ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸."
Ireland never comes alive more vibrantly than under the pen of Maggie O'Farrell.
Lush, lyrical, and deeply moving, 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱 paints a vivid and profound portrait of Ireland that transcends time.
Opening in 1865, we find Tomás and his young son Liam at work on the British Ordinance Survey to map a famine-scarred Ireland. When an encounter in a copse alters Tomás, it has ripple effects on all the family members for decades to come. From births to deaths, from conflicts to survival, from across the seas to new worlds, we follow each heartbreak and each journey they take, together and apart.
Split into four parts, the lack of chapter structure isn't my favorite style and made BRing with Anna, who had audio, slightly difficult. Pacing begins slow and meandering, but be patient. Once the story took root, I was wholly engrossed and captivated to the end.
A true modern day seanchaí herself, O'Farrell has an extraordinary gift for storytelling. It's evident in the way she makes the land itself feel like its own character and how she makes the house feel like a living breathing entity, standing the test of time.
Though the Gulielmus family saga largely serves as the focal point and beating heart, between character and land memories alike, glimpses of Ireland are displayed throughout the eras. From the Viking invasions to the British colonization to the Great Hunger and beyond, she bridges millennia of Irish history with small dashes of mysticism and folklore.
𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱 was one of my most anticipated reads of '26, and it did not disappoint. Visceral, unflinching, evocative, and filled with poignancy and resilience, it is unforgettable and lingers long after the last page is turned.
✨️ My deepest gratitude to Alfred A Knopf for my gifted ARC and finished copies!
[Pub Date: 6•2•2026]
Ireland never comes alive more vibrantly than under the pen of Maggie O'Farrell.
Lush, lyrical, and deeply moving, 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱 paints a vivid and profound portrait of Ireland that transcends time.
Opening in 1865, we find Tomás and his young son Liam at work on the British Ordinance Survey to map a famine-scarred Ireland. When an encounter in a copse alters Tomás, it has ripple effects on all the family members for decades to come. From births to deaths, from conflicts to survival, from across the seas to new worlds, we follow each heartbreak and each journey they take, together and apart.
Split into four parts, the lack of chapter structure isn't my favorite style and made BRing with Anna, who had audio, slightly difficult. Pacing begins slow and meandering, but be patient. Once the story took root, I was wholly engrossed and captivated to the end.
A true modern day seanchaí herself, O'Farrell has an extraordinary gift for storytelling. It's evident in the way she makes the land itself feel like its own character and how she makes the house feel like a living breathing entity, standing the test of time.
Though the Gulielmus family saga largely serves as the focal point and beating heart, between character and land memories alike, glimpses of Ireland are displayed throughout the eras. From the Viking invasions to the British colonization to the Great Hunger and beyond, she bridges millennia of Irish history with small dashes of mysticism and folklore.
𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱 was one of my most anticipated reads of '26, and it did not disappoint. Visceral, unflinching, evocative, and filled with poignancy and resilience, it is unforgettable and lingers long after the last page is turned.
✨️ My deepest gratitude to Alfred A Knopf for my gifted ARC and finished copies!
[Pub Date: 6•2•2026]
Want to Read
December 21, 2025I Want to Read This: It is By Maggie O’Farrell! 💖💖💖
I love her writing. This story sounds so close to her heart.
Release Date is: June 2, 2026
I love her writing. This story sounds so close to her heart.
Release Date is: June 2, 2026
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Land comença als anys 60s del segle xix (uns anys després de la gran fam) i explica la història (tràgica, diria jo) d'una família irlandesa. El pare es dedica a fer mapes per l'exèrcit britànic fins que un dia passa una cosa (una mica màgica) i decideix traslladar tota la familia (dona, dues filles i dos fills) de Dublín al sud-oest de la illa, a un poble remot i solitari.
Land, a la vegada, crec que intenta ser la història d'Irlanda com a terra, territorri ocupat, país i nació. Però és sobretot la història d'aquesta família i els seus infortunis, que sens dubte van lligats a la terra d'on vénen.
He de dir que em vaig avorrir una mica a la primera part, i que a partir de la segona tot agafa un altre ritme. Però no passa res per avorrir-se, el meu problema principal amb el llibre ha sigut que, tot i utilitzar un dels meus tipus de narradors preferits (l'omniscient que es permet passar d'un personatge a l'altra de manera simultània per molt que estiguin a diferents llocs del món, el narrador que sap què passa amb el vent, els arbres, l'aire, que sap i entén el passat i el futur del que narra), no he pogut evitar notar una certa artificialitat en aquest recurs, com també en l'ús d'un realisme màgic en el que no hi he entrat gens.
També he de dir que hi ha unes 30 pàgines on l'autora va molt lluny en el temps, i si haguéssin seguit moltes més, potser l'hagués deixat, perquè per mi no funcionen i aporten poc a la història.
No em trec la sensació de que hi ha alguna cosa forçada en la novel·la.
Land, a la vegada, crec que intenta ser la història d'Irlanda com a terra, territorri ocupat, país i nació. Però és sobretot la història d'aquesta família i els seus infortunis, que sens dubte van lligats a la terra d'on vénen.
He de dir que em vaig avorrir una mica a la primera part, i que a partir de la segona tot agafa un altre ritme. Però no passa res per avorrir-se, el meu problema principal amb el llibre ha sigut que, tot i utilitzar un dels meus tipus de narradors preferits (l'omniscient que es permet passar d'un personatge a l'altra de manera simultània per molt que estiguin a diferents llocs del món, el narrador que sap què passa amb el vent, els arbres, l'aire, que sap i entén el passat i el futur del que narra), no he pogut evitar notar una certa artificialitat en aquest recurs, com també en l'ús d'un realisme màgic en el que no hi he entrat gens.
També he de dir que hi ha unes 30 pàgines on l'autora va molt lluny en el temps, i si haguéssin seguit moltes més, potser l'hagués deixat, perquè per mi no funcionen i aporten poc a la història.
No em trec la sensació de que hi ha alguna cosa forçada en la novel·la.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5 stars
Tomas and his young son Liam are surveying their homeland in Ireland for the 1865 British Ordnance map project when they have an ineffable, life-altering experience in a grove of trees. When they return to their family in town, their lives are changed—toward each other as a family, within society, and forever in connection to the land and its layers of history.
At once both sweeping and intimate, O’Farrell layers in multiple, novel points of view as though we’re zooming in and out on a map of this family, seeing through the lens of different family members, the dog Bran, the neighbor midwife, the British surveying team, even a baby in utero.
Literary fiction with lyrical prose. Recommended for you if you liked/loved Hamnet, if you enjoy sweeping family sagas with a dash of the mystical, if you are patient with pacing in order to build to the overall payoff of a beautiful story. Layered with themes/strands of mystery, folklore, connection, faith and reason, generational legacies, colonization, the mystical and the concrete tasks of survival.
"The two share the same dream: a landscape weighed down from above with great billowing clouds that part and merge, letting in the light and obscuring it, over and over again." (218)
"He thinks about what she said about wanting to go travel beyond the edges of maps, to find what was there and he recognizes in that moment that she has gone beyond the limits of parental reach, far beyond, that she will never again reside within it." (223)
Tomas and his young son Liam are surveying their homeland in Ireland for the 1865 British Ordnance map project when they have an ineffable, life-altering experience in a grove of trees. When they return to their family in town, their lives are changed—toward each other as a family, within society, and forever in connection to the land and its layers of history.
At once both sweeping and intimate, O’Farrell layers in multiple, novel points of view as though we’re zooming in and out on a map of this family, seeing through the lens of different family members, the dog Bran, the neighbor midwife, the British surveying team, even a baby in utero.
Literary fiction with lyrical prose. Recommended for you if you liked/loved Hamnet, if you enjoy sweeping family sagas with a dash of the mystical, if you are patient with pacing in order to build to the overall payoff of a beautiful story. Layered with themes/strands of mystery, folklore, connection, faith and reason, generational legacies, colonization, the mystical and the concrete tasks of survival.
"The two share the same dream: a landscape weighed down from above with great billowing clouds that part and merge, letting in the light and obscuring it, over and over again." (218)
"He thinks about what she said about wanting to go travel beyond the edges of maps, to find what was there and he recognizes in that moment that she has gone beyond the limits of parental reach, far beyond, that she will never again reside within it." (223)
Want to Read
December 1, 2025saw a quote about maps so ofc i'll be reading this
May 30, 2026
I may be the only person on the planet that hasn't yet read Hamnet, so this was my first Maggie O'Farrell book. I've heard so many good things about Hamnet, and it is on my TBR, I just haven't gotten to it yet.
Land is a story of family, parent and sibling relationships, fate, life decisions and their repercussions, faith, ghosts, and community. Liam's father, Tomas, is a map maker who enlists Liam for help as he draws intricate maps for the Redcoats. When Tomas has a life-changing experience at a well said to be inhabited by ancient spirits, Liam is forced to finish the maps; his family's livelihood depends on the money made from completing the maps. Tomas' experience sets in motion a change for Liam, his parents, and his siblings, Enda, Rose, and Eugene. The book follows the family through trips across the oceans, illness, friendships, betrayals, and coming home.
I cannot overstate how wonderful this book was. The writing was lyrical. I found myself going over certain passages multiple times because it was so beautifully written. I was invested in the lives of these characters, staying up entirely too late to read just one more chapter, just one more chapter, just one more chapter.
I loved how this book wove history throughout the novel. The great famine of Ireland, the role that the church played in everyday life of the Irish people, the sense of community that was formed during the turbulent times of the British occupation. I learned so much about Irish history and life that I didn't know before, especially through the lens of farming and reliance on the land.
This has easily become my top 2026 book so far. I didn't want it to end. 5 well-deserved ⭐s.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for an advanced copy. The book is scheduled to be published on June 2, 2026.
Land is a story of family, parent and sibling relationships, fate, life decisions and their repercussions, faith, ghosts, and community. Liam's father, Tomas, is a map maker who enlists Liam for help as he draws intricate maps for the Redcoats. When Tomas has a life-changing experience at a well said to be inhabited by ancient spirits, Liam is forced to finish the maps; his family's livelihood depends on the money made from completing the maps. Tomas' experience sets in motion a change for Liam, his parents, and his siblings, Enda, Rose, and Eugene. The book follows the family through trips across the oceans, illness, friendships, betrayals, and coming home.
I cannot overstate how wonderful this book was. The writing was lyrical. I found myself going over certain passages multiple times because it was so beautifully written. I was invested in the lives of these characters, staying up entirely too late to read just one more chapter, just one more chapter, just one more chapter.
I loved how this book wove history throughout the novel. The great famine of Ireland, the role that the church played in everyday life of the Irish people, the sense of community that was formed during the turbulent times of the British occupation. I learned so much about Irish history and life that I didn't know before, especially through the lens of farming and reliance on the land.
This has easily become my top 2026 book so far. I didn't want it to end. 5 well-deserved ⭐s.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for an advanced copy. The book is scheduled to be published on June 2, 2026.
Read
February 18, 2026Like land itself, this sublime novel expands and contracts. It's both epic and intimate. Set mostly on a penninsula in the west of Ireland, it covers a millennium of history but its focus is on the indelible characters of Tomás, Phina and their children, including a very large, very good, dog called Bran.
I took my time, reading it closely, savouring every line. And even when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. I'm still thinking about it and how land holds memories, its history.
For those, like me, who loved the flea scene in Hamnet, there is a scene with a skylark that will scratch that itch!
It may be only February, but LAND is destined to be one of my favourite reads of 2026!
" This house is a thing both ancient and disjointed, an entity of addition and subtraction, a palimpsest of stone and would and caulk and mud. Its existence here, on the peninsula, is proof that everything was once something else: nothing goes away. " p156
" the seabirds shriek and keen above his head, gliding in huge and invisible circles, and the merciless rocks of the island where he will spend months of his life loom ever closer, and Tomás sees himself as if on a map of the entire country, a pinprick, a fleck, tiny, and wholly insignificant." p213
I took my time, reading it closely, savouring every line. And even when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. I'm still thinking about it and how land holds memories, its history.
For those, like me, who loved the flea scene in Hamnet, there is a scene with a skylark that will scratch that itch!
It may be only February, but LAND is destined to be one of my favourite reads of 2026!
" This house is a thing both ancient and disjointed, an entity of addition and subtraction, a palimpsest of stone and would and caulk and mud. Its existence here, on the peninsula, is proof that everything was once something else: nothing goes away. " p156
" the seabirds shriek and keen above his head, gliding in huge and invisible circles, and the merciless rocks of the island where he will spend months of his life loom ever closer, and Tomás sees himself as if on a map of the entire country, a pinprick, a fleck, tiny, and wholly insignificant." p213
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Ireland after the Great Hunger is the setting for this story of a family and a peninsula where they live. The family's father Tomas is a mapmaker working for the British redcoats, attempting to have his son Liam follow in his trade. Seraphina, or Phina, his wife, shares his devastating background in the Hunger. Together they have four children including Liam, Enda, Rose, and Eugene, and a magnificent loyal Irish wolfhound named Bran. The sweeping scope of this novel includes the pre-history of the land they live on, the hardscrabble life of a farmer, the role of the Catholic church, the terrible loneliness of emigration in the days before easy communication, and the connection formed to the land and the community. Beautiful writing, unforgettable characters, and a clear eye for history makes this an unforgettable reading experience.
Read
March 17, 2026Oh, Maggie O'Farrell, you've done it again. I was immediately swept away to 1860s Ireland - the saga of Tomas and his family beckoned me, held me fast, broke and mended my heart. Land will be on the "best of" lists for 2026.
May 26, 2026
An absolute masterpiece, of course. Loved this book with all my heart, especially Tomas and Enda.
June 2, 2026
This book has my whole heart. Like with her most recent books, this one is not what I would call a happy family saga- but like the sagas there are moments of joy, tribulation, peace, growth, despair, death, betrayal, and belonging.
The story follows a couple who endured the hardships of the Irish famine (The Great Hunger) and who are now grown with children of their own. Swept away by wanting a land of their own, the father figure (Tomas) in the story decides to render his family into the unknown. As a land surveyor, Tomas and his boy trek across Ireland prospecting for the British and together they uncover a myserterious well, one that has been used throughout the ages. This well has ghosts and influence on Tomas and his family- in delightful and heartbreaking ways.
I LOVED the multiple timelines (very subtle and easy to follow!) and the character growth and development. I gasped. I cried. I pondered. Women were the champions of this story and their strength reminded me of how women are often the ones to carry community on their backs.
Easily worth a dozen stars and one I will read again and again.
A special thank you to Knopf for my advanced physical copy. I will cherish her always.
One of my most favorite books of the year.
The story follows a couple who endured the hardships of the Irish famine (The Great Hunger) and who are now grown with children of their own. Swept away by wanting a land of their own, the father figure (Tomas) in the story decides to render his family into the unknown. As a land surveyor, Tomas and his boy trek across Ireland prospecting for the British and together they uncover a myserterious well, one that has been used throughout the ages. This well has ghosts and influence on Tomas and his family- in delightful and heartbreaking ways.
I LOVED the multiple timelines (very subtle and easy to follow!) and the character growth and development. I gasped. I cried. I pondered. Women were the champions of this story and their strength reminded me of how women are often the ones to carry community on their backs.
Easily worth a dozen stars and one I will read again and again.
A special thank you to Knopf for my advanced physical copy. I will cherish her always.
One of my most favorite books of the year.
June 2, 2026
There is a moment near the start of the new novel where a ten-year-old boy stands on a windswept hillock holding a surveying chain in hands gone scarlet from cold, while his father waves at him from the other end of a measuring line. Liam can barely make out his father in the wet Atlantic mist. That image of a small child and a stubborn adult, separated by chain and weather and several centuries of grief, more or less tells you what Land by Maggie O'Farrell is going to do to you over the next four hundred pages.
A country still in mourning
The year is 1865. The Great Hunger is recent enough that the bones are still settling in the ditches and that everyone over the age of twenty has lost someone. Tomás, the map-maker, has been sent by the British Ordnance Survey to record a peninsula on the westernmost tip of Ireland. His task is technical, but his motive is private. He wants the maps to bear witness. And he wants the names of the dead villages, the unworked fields, the workhouse roads that lead nowhere, set down in ink so the ruin cannot be politely forgotten by Dublin or by London.
He has brought his reluctant son Liam, aged ten, as a chain-bearer. His wife Phina, his daughters Enda and Rose, and a watchful baby called Eugene wait at a cottage rented from the local viscount's factor. There is a loyal dog called Bran. There is a widow with a spinning wheel who knows every cabin that emptied in the wintering. None of this should be unusual ground for the author of Hamnet, but what she does with it here is.
The hidden copse and the rule Tomás will not follow
The central engine of the book is a small one. Tomás goes looking for his son's lost boot and instead finds a copse so old and so concealed that the previous sappers missed it altogether. Inside is a spring, a pool with mineral-green water, oak trunks no two men could span. He drinks from the source. Something in him moves and does not move back.
The question that follows him for the rest of the novel is, in his own words, whether the place should exist on the map or on the land. He knows that to record it is to condemn it: the viscount will have the trees felled within a week of the chart reaching the office. He also knows that not to record it goes against everything an Ordnance Survey assistant is paid to do. The novel never lets him resolve that argument easily.
The lives that overlap with his
What makes Land by Maggie O'Farrell more than a quiet meditation on cartography is how widely she opens out from this single hesitation. She slips back to a girl called Brith, who walked the same hillside thousands of years earlier with a hound at her side and a ring in her possession. She slips forward to a Liam who has crossed an ocean and is being judged by a panel of robed men in a country far from home. And she gives Phina a fierce inner life, makes Enda the fastest mind in the family, lets Rose and Eugene each carry a separate kind of silence.
The dog Bran gets his own consciousness, and rather than feeling twee, those passages read as the most uncomplicated love in the book. He sleeps near a swaddled baby and decides, on the spot, that this is his post in the world.
A prose that listens to the ground
O'Farrell has always written from inside the body. Here she writes from inside the place. The prose pays attention to the way moss creeps over a stone, the way a stream slips underground and reappears, the cold edge of a Gaelic word against an English one. She uses two languages with the kind of grace that does not call attention to itself. Anyone who has loved her sentence-level work in The Marriage Portrait or Instructions for a Heatwave will find the same restrained, sensory care here, only applied to soil instead of skin.
There are also Report Of Progress sections written in a deadpan civil-service voice, with the inner truth of what Tomás is actually doing tucked into parentheses underneath. That formal trick gives the book some of its best small comedy and most of its quiet heartbreak.
What the novel does brilliantly
The Ordnance Survey premise feels both meticulously researched and lightly worn. You learn how a theodolite is levelled without ever feeling lectured at.
Childhood is rendered with rare honesty. Liam at ten, Enda at almost twelve, Eugene as a watching infant, each gets the full weight of an internal weather system.
The peninsula itself is given the attention usually reserved for a person. The cliffs, the cove, the boreens, the bog, all feel surveyed by someone who has stood there with wet feet.
The grief sits in the right places. The famine is never sensationalised. It works the way real grief works, in absences rather than in scenes.
Where the book asks patience of you
Land by Maggie O'Farrell is not built for readers in a hurry. The prehistoric strand with Brith and her hound is haunting on its own terms but takes a while to align with the 1865 storyline, and some readers will lose patience before that pay-off arrives. The middle third, set on a remote island where the family fractures further, slows the forward push considerably. A few of the time-jumps, especially the late Dublin sections, feel as if they belong in their own short novel rather than tucked into the close of this one.
There is also the question of register. The book is written in a serious key throughout. Compared with the springy momentum of This Must Be the Place or even the cracked-open energy of Hamnet, this novel sometimes reads as a more solemn cousin. That suits its subject, but readers who came to O'Farrell for her dry domestic wit may miss it.
None of this undoes the book. It does, fairly, explain why the average reader response sits a notch below adoration.
Final word
The dedication thanks her great-great-grandfather, with the Irish blessing for eternal peace. By the end of the book, you understand why. Land by Maggie O'Farrell is a book about the work of remembering done on behalf of people who were not given the chance to remember themselves. It does not all land, and it asks something of you in the reading. The pages that do land are worth the asking.
A country still in mourning
The year is 1865. The Great Hunger is recent enough that the bones are still settling in the ditches and that everyone over the age of twenty has lost someone. Tomás, the map-maker, has been sent by the British Ordnance Survey to record a peninsula on the westernmost tip of Ireland. His task is technical, but his motive is private. He wants the maps to bear witness. And he wants the names of the dead villages, the unworked fields, the workhouse roads that lead nowhere, set down in ink so the ruin cannot be politely forgotten by Dublin or by London.
He has brought his reluctant son Liam, aged ten, as a chain-bearer. His wife Phina, his daughters Enda and Rose, and a watchful baby called Eugene wait at a cottage rented from the local viscount's factor. There is a loyal dog called Bran. There is a widow with a spinning wheel who knows every cabin that emptied in the wintering. None of this should be unusual ground for the author of Hamnet, but what she does with it here is.
The hidden copse and the rule Tomás will not follow
The central engine of the book is a small one. Tomás goes looking for his son's lost boot and instead finds a copse so old and so concealed that the previous sappers missed it altogether. Inside is a spring, a pool with mineral-green water, oak trunks no two men could span. He drinks from the source. Something in him moves and does not move back.
The question that follows him for the rest of the novel is, in his own words, whether the place should exist on the map or on the land. He knows that to record it is to condemn it: the viscount will have the trees felled within a week of the chart reaching the office. He also knows that not to record it goes against everything an Ordnance Survey assistant is paid to do. The novel never lets him resolve that argument easily.
The lives that overlap with his
What makes Land by Maggie O'Farrell more than a quiet meditation on cartography is how widely she opens out from this single hesitation. She slips back to a girl called Brith, who walked the same hillside thousands of years earlier with a hound at her side and a ring in her possession. She slips forward to a Liam who has crossed an ocean and is being judged by a panel of robed men in a country far from home. And she gives Phina a fierce inner life, makes Enda the fastest mind in the family, lets Rose and Eugene each carry a separate kind of silence.
The dog Bran gets his own consciousness, and rather than feeling twee, those passages read as the most uncomplicated love in the book. He sleeps near a swaddled baby and decides, on the spot, that this is his post in the world.
A prose that listens to the ground
O'Farrell has always written from inside the body. Here she writes from inside the place. The prose pays attention to the way moss creeps over a stone, the way a stream slips underground and reappears, the cold edge of a Gaelic word against an English one. She uses two languages with the kind of grace that does not call attention to itself. Anyone who has loved her sentence-level work in The Marriage Portrait or Instructions for a Heatwave will find the same restrained, sensory care here, only applied to soil instead of skin.
There are also Report Of Progress sections written in a deadpan civil-service voice, with the inner truth of what Tomás is actually doing tucked into parentheses underneath. That formal trick gives the book some of its best small comedy and most of its quiet heartbreak.
What the novel does brilliantly
The Ordnance Survey premise feels both meticulously researched and lightly worn. You learn how a theodolite is levelled without ever feeling lectured at.
Childhood is rendered with rare honesty. Liam at ten, Enda at almost twelve, Eugene as a watching infant, each gets the full weight of an internal weather system.
The peninsula itself is given the attention usually reserved for a person. The cliffs, the cove, the boreens, the bog, all feel surveyed by someone who has stood there with wet feet.
The grief sits in the right places. The famine is never sensationalised. It works the way real grief works, in absences rather than in scenes.
Where the book asks patience of you
Land by Maggie O'Farrell is not built for readers in a hurry. The prehistoric strand with Brith and her hound is haunting on its own terms but takes a while to align with the 1865 storyline, and some readers will lose patience before that pay-off arrives. The middle third, set on a remote island where the family fractures further, slows the forward push considerably. A few of the time-jumps, especially the late Dublin sections, feel as if they belong in their own short novel rather than tucked into the close of this one.
There is also the question of register. The book is written in a serious key throughout. Compared with the springy momentum of This Must Be the Place or even the cracked-open energy of Hamnet, this novel sometimes reads as a more solemn cousin. That suits its subject, but readers who came to O'Farrell for her dry domestic wit may miss it.
None of this undoes the book. It does, fairly, explain why the average reader response sits a notch below adoration.
Final word
The dedication thanks her great-great-grandfather, with the Irish blessing for eternal peace. By the end of the book, you understand why. Land by Maggie O'Farrell is a book about the work of remembering done on behalf of people who were not given the chance to remember themselves. It does not all land, and it asks something of you in the reading. The pages that do land are worth the asking.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Received ARC from Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a book I respected more than I enjoyed. Maggie O’Farrell’s writing is beautiful and immersive, with a strong sense of place and thoughtful themes around history, memory, and loss. The land itself feels alive, which is one of the novel’s biggest strengths.
The character development is complex and well done, but emotionally it never quite worked for me. Even with richly drawn characters, I struggled to feel connected to any of them.
This book was hard to get through. The pacing is slow and demanding, and while that suits the reflective tone, it made the reading experience feel like effort rather than engagement.
For me, it was a solid but challenging read that didn’t fully land.
This is a book I respected more than I enjoyed. Maggie O’Farrell’s writing is beautiful and immersive, with a strong sense of place and thoughtful themes around history, memory, and loss. The land itself feels alive, which is one of the novel’s biggest strengths.
The character development is complex and well done, but emotionally it never quite worked for me. Even with richly drawn characters, I struggled to feel connected to any of them.
This book was hard to get through. The pacing is slow and demanding, and while that suits the reflective tone, it made the reading experience feel like effort rather than engagement.
For me, it was a solid but challenging read that didn’t fully land.
May 24, 2026
What a powerful, emotional story about family, struggle, power, and identity. This is the best written book I’ve read in 2026. This will win awards.
“Land” largely follows one Irish family’s life post-The Great Famine. Admittedly, I didn’t know much about Irish history during this time and Maggie O’Farrell does such an amazing job of showing (not telling) how much the country was wrecked and the people hardened by that period. She also shows (again, not tells) enough of the history that I didn’t find it too heady or hard to follow. I felt immersed in the family’s experience (even when I, like them, wanted out of it). The thread through most of this story is the generational trauma of the family, but there’s also strong elements of folklore and mysticism. The writing is absolutely breathtaking and the description of the country (the father is a surveyor) is some of the most beautiful I’ve read. We are with the family for most of their lives and their character development really reflects that. Even though I was more drawn to some of them than others (Enda and Eugene are everything), I felt like I understood all of them because O’Farrell gave each character page space to grow.
What I’m saying is, the story is stunning. It is also very, very real and dark. There were plenty of times I wanted to stop reading because it was just too heavy and I thought it was too much for my sensitivities. I cried multiple times, something I don’t often do when reading. I took breaks and came back because I wanted to see their story through, it felt like the characters deserved it. That being said, take caution when picking this up and it is probably not for everyone.
This story is sweeping but also intimate. It is perfect for readers who are drawn to character development, beautiful prose, and don’t mind slow pacing and emotionally difficult content.
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
“Land” largely follows one Irish family’s life post-The Great Famine. Admittedly, I didn’t know much about Irish history during this time and Maggie O’Farrell does such an amazing job of showing (not telling) how much the country was wrecked and the people hardened by that period. She also shows (again, not tells) enough of the history that I didn’t find it too heady or hard to follow. I felt immersed in the family’s experience (even when I, like them, wanted out of it). The thread through most of this story is the generational trauma of the family, but there’s also strong elements of folklore and mysticism. The writing is absolutely breathtaking and the description of the country (the father is a surveyor) is some of the most beautiful I’ve read. We are with the family for most of their lives and their character development really reflects that. Even though I was more drawn to some of them than others (Enda and Eugene are everything), I felt like I understood all of them because O’Farrell gave each character page space to grow.
What I’m saying is, the story is stunning. It is also very, very real and dark. There were plenty of times I wanted to stop reading because it was just too heavy and I thought it was too much for my sensitivities. I cried multiple times, something I don’t often do when reading. I took breaks and came back because I wanted to see their story through, it felt like the characters deserved it. That being said, take caution when picking this up and it is probably not for everyone.
This story is sweeping but also intimate. It is perfect for readers who are drawn to character development, beautiful prose, and don’t mind slow pacing and emotionally difficult content.
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Read
May 30, 2026Do NOT in any instances, read this book and then listen to Willing and Able by Noah Kahan.
March 17, 2026
Thank you to @aaknopf for a free copy of Land by Maggie O’Farrell. With an unexpected snow day yesterday, I was able to finish this book, which comes out June 2nd. Through the story of a mapmaker and his family, O’Farrell explores with her trademark eloquence our ties to the land, our myriad beliefs and superstitions, the sad tendency of powerful institutions to turn away from vulnerability and suffering, and of course the particular experience of the Irish during and after the Great Famine. But amongst these lofty themes, the central beating heart of this tale is family, the unbreakable family ties that cross time and distance and are more lasting than land, superstitions, armies, and riches can ever be. O’Farrell examines family relationships so honestly. The frustrations, the struggles, the battles of will that develop as children grow older. In all the books I’ve read by her, I love how she gets to the relatable core of a specific situation and time.
This book made me think about my family since around 75% of my genetic makeup is from Ireland. Most of my relatives left Ireland throughout the 1800s, with the latest moving in the 1860s. So it is very possible that some of them experienced the difficult times of the famine. I love how O’Farrell suggests that our connections to family are there, maybe even in ways of which we aren’t conscious. It could be that the landscapes we are drawn to or the abilities that come naturally are the echoes of the past, living on in yet another generation.
I will say, some of her takes on the land were very North Woods-esque, but without the stylistic risks that Daniel Mason took. I prefer his treatment of that concept, while I prefer her treatment of family connections. Her writing is, as ever, beautiful and stunning. I always learn new words when I read her books. This book made me think and I can see myself rereading it. I call that a major winner.
Do you ever think about what events your ancestors have experienced? Do you feel a connection to those who came before you?
#aaknopf #land #upcomingrelease #maggieofarrell
This book made me think about my family since around 75% of my genetic makeup is from Ireland. Most of my relatives left Ireland throughout the 1800s, with the latest moving in the 1860s. So it is very possible that some of them experienced the difficult times of the famine. I love how O’Farrell suggests that our connections to family are there, maybe even in ways of which we aren’t conscious. It could be that the landscapes we are drawn to or the abilities that come naturally are the echoes of the past, living on in yet another generation.
I will say, some of her takes on the land were very North Woods-esque, but without the stylistic risks that Daniel Mason took. I prefer his treatment of that concept, while I prefer her treatment of family connections. Her writing is, as ever, beautiful and stunning. I always learn new words when I read her books. This book made me think and I can see myself rereading it. I call that a major winner.
Do you ever think about what events your ancestors have experienced? Do you feel a connection to those who came before you?
#aaknopf #land #upcomingrelease #maggieofarrell
March 24, 2026
Land is a departure in some ways for Maggie O’Farrell, but it is also a return. A homecoming to her Irish heritage, Land draws inspiration from her great-great-grandfather who drew maps for the British army, as readers follow Tomás, who does the same. This book is multigenerational, jumping between two times, the second of which where his children are grown. This is as much a book about family as it is about the land on which they live. The land itself is a character and informs much of what the characters do and their values. A part of their daily lives, but also a deeper sense of place and belonging. Colonization, conformity, religion, history, heritage, and the delicate balance that’s struck between them. It’s all in Land.
Per usual, her prose is immaculate, her descriptions thorough and intricate. This is what I love about Maggie O’Farrell, and she flaunts it in Land. I know that I missed so many descriptions reading this, and I can’t wait to reread a physical copy. This reminded me a little of North Woods by Daniel Mason, just with the idea of the land being a character. It’s so awesome. Shoutout Ireland.
Got this arc from NetGalley! Thank you! Cannot express how excited I was to read this!
Per usual, her prose is immaculate, her descriptions thorough and intricate. This is what I love about Maggie O’Farrell, and she flaunts it in Land. I know that I missed so many descriptions reading this, and I can’t wait to reread a physical copy. This reminded me a little of North Woods by Daniel Mason, just with the idea of the land being a character. It’s so awesome. Shoutout Ireland.
Got this arc from NetGalley! Thank you! Cannot express how excited I was to read this!
January 28, 2026
The "land", in Maggie O'Farrell's latest work of historical fiction, is the country of Ireland. More specifically, the landscape and geography of that country, which is surveyed and measured by a local cartographer, and his son. It is a land where there stands a copse of trees, in which there exists a magical stream. It is this very stream, and coming in contact with it, that changes the lives of Tomas, his son Liam, and their entire family. As you journey with this family that has recently survived The Great Hunger, through their lives, loves, and losses—you also come to view this land as a somewhat human, breathing thing—a character in the story.
I love how there's elements of Daniel Mason's "Northwoods"; even a scene or two that brings to mind Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" in this novel. The author has woven a story of tragedy, survival, guilt, regret—but also of wonder and hope. "Land" is Maggie O'Farrell's best book to date.
Thank you Knopf and NetGalley for the early reading copy!
I love how there's elements of Daniel Mason's "Northwoods"; even a scene or two that brings to mind Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" in this novel. The author has woven a story of tragedy, survival, guilt, regret—but also of wonder and hope. "Land" is Maggie O'Farrell's best book to date.
Thank you Knopf and NetGalley for the early reading copy!
June 4, 2026
To condense out the expansive vastness of Land & its entities on a sheet of map is so fascinating & if you have always wondered why we study Pythagoras theorem, it is to master the art of Cartography
"...boys had grumbled about having to learn Pythagorus's Theorem, saying what possible use could it be to any of them? Liam had expounded to them the exquisite simplicity of it, and how it was the exact formula that enabled surveyors to calculate distances, to create maps. Imagine, he had said to them, the whole vast extent of this country, divided up into triangles: that is how they were able to do it."
Maps & their making forms the crux of this sweeping multi-generational story. Its fascinating to superimpose the various tangents of the narrative on
Pythagoras theorem, which is
𝒂𝟐+𝒃𝟐=𝒄𝟐
where
a,
the Perpendicular, is the HISTORICAL context. Colonization weighs heavily upon the story. The trauma of Great famine that deeply affected Peninsular Ireland in 1865 & how people lived with that trauma
b,
the base, is how MEMORY plays a vital role in the narrative. Folklore that traverses more than 1000 years & gets deeply embedded in the Land literally & meta textually
c,
the hypotenuse, connects the vertical pressure of history with the horizontal depth of memory to create this land which witnesses the life journeys of these PEOPLE, their survival or submission to the fate
L͢A͢N͢D͢
ʰⁱˢᵗᵒʳʸ 📐ᵖᵉᵒᵖˡᵉ
ᵐᵉᵐᵒʳʸ
Tomás survives ordeals of Great Hunger & is brought up in bleak Penal British house to finally get inducted as a Cartographer for Redcoats
His love story with Seraphina (What a beautiful name) tucks at your heart. The story traces their life along with their 4 kids
- The Eldest Enda, with her Fiddle ventures out in the world to prove her worth
- Liam is Tomas's choice as his heir for Cartography but Liam enters priesthood & travels to Calcutta & parts of South India ( Delighted to see the book's Indian connection)
- Rose, is a beauty inside out & the one trying to keep everyone together
- Eugene, the special one & most unique of them all
The character of Widow makes one of the largest impact on mind & hearts
Maggie's prose is lush, highly sensory, immersive & detailed. The beautiful integration of familial bonds with magical realism is done seamlessly
I had a pre-notion that this story would cover wider range of characters but the depth here is found spatially. The story peels off these layers one at a time & this unlayering of Terra firma is a sight to behold
While this book will mean different things to different people but what it will remind me of is What is land to me - bylanes of my childhood, home where my parents-children live, places where I find myself in oneness with nature....
Thank you NetGalley and Alfred A. Knopf for the e-arc
READ IT
Quotes to showcase character depiction
"Many of the books and drafts he must refer to are in his father's hand: he finds Tomás all over the landscape, written into it, wherever he goes. That familiar, slanting script never fails to give him a jolt, and sometimes, if no one is looking, he will pass his palm over the pages, as if from the loops and crosses of the words he might glean some insight into that most enigmatic and taciturn of men"
"Death baffles her, every time she brushes against it: the 350 finality of it, how there is no bargaining to be done, no way of saying to it, if I give you this or do that then you must give my mother or father back to me, release them from your clutches. It is the inarguable force of their absence, and the conundrum of what to do with what they leave behind: the boots, the combs full of strands, the spoon worn smooth by their fingers, the shawl draped on a chair, the bonnet on the peg."
Quotes to showcase Beauty of Prose
"The skylark passes unseen, directly over his head and, to her, his thoughts are a tangible LINE rising from his cranium, like steam: she flies right through them, she pierces the nimbus of his ruminations as a needle passes through cloth."
"This ocean, the one she is crossing, yard by yard, day by day, week by week - and to call it a singular 'ocean' rather than 'oceans' seems an error because its vastness, its boundlessness, its terrifyingly endless expanse implies plurality, how can something this large be one ocean alone? - is shifting and various, impossible to pin down."
"Cochin has long, straight streets lined with awnings, beneath which are open-fronted shops selling spices and silks and bales of printed cotton and towering triangles of coconuts and jasmine blossoms threaded on to strings. There are clusters of palm trees, the leaves of which rattle like swords in the wind, and a seafront where rows of elaborate fishing nets stand with elegant, outstretched arms that can be lowered, like genuflecting pilgrims, into the water. The wealthy colonialist families live in pink-tinted houses with ironwork balconies; they travel about town in huge-wheeled rickshaws, high above the dust of the street."
"...boys had grumbled about having to learn Pythagorus's Theorem, saying what possible use could it be to any of them? Liam had expounded to them the exquisite simplicity of it, and how it was the exact formula that enabled surveyors to calculate distances, to create maps. Imagine, he had said to them, the whole vast extent of this country, divided up into triangles: that is how they were able to do it."
Maps & their making forms the crux of this sweeping multi-generational story. Its fascinating to superimpose the various tangents of the narrative on
Pythagoras theorem, which is
𝒂𝟐+𝒃𝟐=𝒄𝟐
where
a,
the Perpendicular, is the HISTORICAL context. Colonization weighs heavily upon the story. The trauma of Great famine that deeply affected Peninsular Ireland in 1865 & how people lived with that trauma
b,
the base, is how MEMORY plays a vital role in the narrative. Folklore that traverses more than 1000 years & gets deeply embedded in the Land literally & meta textually
c,
the hypotenuse, connects the vertical pressure of history with the horizontal depth of memory to create this land which witnesses the life journeys of these PEOPLE, their survival or submission to the fate
L͢A͢N͢D͢
ʰⁱˢᵗᵒʳʸ 📐ᵖᵉᵒᵖˡᵉ
ᵐᵉᵐᵒʳʸ
Tomás survives ordeals of Great Hunger & is brought up in bleak Penal British house to finally get inducted as a Cartographer for Redcoats
His love story with Seraphina (What a beautiful name) tucks at your heart. The story traces their life along with their 4 kids
- The Eldest Enda, with her Fiddle ventures out in the world to prove her worth
- Liam is Tomas's choice as his heir for Cartography but Liam enters priesthood & travels to Calcutta & parts of South India ( Delighted to see the book's Indian connection)
- Rose, is a beauty inside out & the one trying to keep everyone together
- Eugene, the special one & most unique of them all
The character of Widow makes one of the largest impact on mind & hearts
Maggie's prose is lush, highly sensory, immersive & detailed. The beautiful integration of familial bonds with magical realism is done seamlessly
I had a pre-notion that this story would cover wider range of characters but the depth here is found spatially. The story peels off these layers one at a time & this unlayering of Terra firma is a sight to behold
While this book will mean different things to different people but what it will remind me of is What is land to me - bylanes of my childhood, home where my parents-children live, places where I find myself in oneness with nature....
Thank you NetGalley and Alfred A. Knopf for the e-arc
READ IT
Quotes to showcase character depiction
"Many of the books and drafts he must refer to are in his father's hand: he finds Tomás all over the landscape, written into it, wherever he goes. That familiar, slanting script never fails to give him a jolt, and sometimes, if no one is looking, he will pass his palm over the pages, as if from the loops and crosses of the words he might glean some insight into that most enigmatic and taciturn of men"
"Death baffles her, every time she brushes against it: the 350 finality of it, how there is no bargaining to be done, no way of saying to it, if I give you this or do that then you must give my mother or father back to me, release them from your clutches. It is the inarguable force of their absence, and the conundrum of what to do with what they leave behind: the boots, the combs full of strands, the spoon worn smooth by their fingers, the shawl draped on a chair, the bonnet on the peg."
Quotes to showcase Beauty of Prose
"The skylark passes unseen, directly over his head and, to her, his thoughts are a tangible LINE rising from his cranium, like steam: she flies right through them, she pierces the nimbus of his ruminations as a needle passes through cloth."
"This ocean, the one she is crossing, yard by yard, day by day, week by week - and to call it a singular 'ocean' rather than 'oceans' seems an error because its vastness, its boundlessness, its terrifyingly endless expanse implies plurality, how can something this large be one ocean alone? - is shifting and various, impossible to pin down."
"Cochin has long, straight streets lined with awnings, beneath which are open-fronted shops selling spices and silks and bales of printed cotton and towering triangles of coconuts and jasmine blossoms threaded on to strings. There are clusters of palm trees, the leaves of which rattle like swords in the wind, and a seafront where rows of elaborate fishing nets stand with elegant, outstretched arms that can be lowered, like genuflecting pilgrims, into the water. The wealthy colonialist families live in pink-tinted houses with ironwork balconies; they travel about town in huge-wheeled rickshaws, high above the dust of the street."
June 1, 2026
Maggie, did you just become one of my favourite authors??
Maggie O’Farrell is a literary genius. The way this story was woven together was truly magnificent. The writing is lyrical and beautiful. It was an immersive experience.
If you go into this book expecting a page turning, plot driven experience you might be disappointed. Be prepared for a character driven, thoughtfully crafted story full of emotion and beautiful imagery.
It is important to know that the storylines jump around quite a bit without much warning. Once I realized this it was a lot easier for me to follow along.
My second Maggie O’Farrell book of the year and another 5 star experience.
Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced reader copy of this book.
Maggie O’Farrell is a literary genius. The way this story was woven together was truly magnificent. The writing is lyrical and beautiful. It was an immersive experience.
If you go into this book expecting a page turning, plot driven experience you might be disappointed. Be prepared for a character driven, thoughtfully crafted story full of emotion and beautiful imagery.
It is important to know that the storylines jump around quite a bit without much warning. Once I realized this it was a lot easier for me to follow along.
My second Maggie O’Farrell book of the year and another 5 star experience.
Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced reader copy of this book.
Read
February 15, 2026No star ratings for work related things but my oh MY that was just incredible
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