Land

by Maggie O'Farrell

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 unexpectedly 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 novel about separation and reunion, tragedy and recovery, colonization and rebellion. It 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. As spellbinding and varied as the landscape that inspired it, Land is, above all, a story of survival, for our times, and for all time.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Ireland, Historical, Literary Fiction, Irish Literature, Adult

640 pages, Paperback

Expected publication June 2, 2026

About the author

Maggie 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.

Reviews

[Julia]

Never clicked Want to Read faster, this is the best news all week

[Liz Hein · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Kim Alkemade · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Shannon Henry]

saw a quote about maps so ofc i'll be reading this

[Annie Waddoups · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Tomas and his young son Liam are in the middle of surveying their homeland in Ireland for the British Ordnance map project in 1865 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. 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. Mystery, folklore, connection, faith and reason, generations, 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)

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Sarah]

Like 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

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Kristine]

I 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

[Mia]

No star ratings for work related things but my oh MY that was just incredible

[Tova]

This sounds like Translations by Brian Friel, but make it Maggie O'Farrell, I am excited!!

[Linda Grana · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Alix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well it's beautiful and it was a page turner, but it was also a difficult read. I've been researching a family who emigrated from Ireland to New Hampshire in the wake of the Great Hunger and following that family's descendants to today, so it was interesting for me to read a historical fiction about this period. Tomás and his son Liam are working as surveyors in 1865, and they have a predicament -- to give the British every detail of their beloved homeland as required, or not. Tomás realizes, "It could exist on a map, or it could exist on the land." This is such a beautiful recognition of the way documents shape the land and our relationship with it. There was almost a feel of magical realism as Liam and Tomás have a life-changing experience in a copse of trees, but that's not really the overall vibe. The book takes us on a journey back and forth in time to millennia ago, and then follows the four children of Tomás and his wife Phina, who each have different relationships with Ireland. I particularly loved Enda, the eldest daughter, who plays the fiddle so well that O'Farrell writes "The music she plays is the land: it summons it; it conjures it," no matter when Enda goes.

I'd recommend this book for people who like Kristin Hannah's books but think they could be a little sadder, people whose great-great-great grandparents emigrated from Ireland, and people whose favorite exhibit in the National Museum of Ireland was a bog body.

CW for death of a parent, amputation, sexual assault, and death of a dog

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel unfolded around me in the most exquisite way. Land is soaked in memory and beauty, and Maggie O’Farrell’s writing feels less like prose and more like something elemental, rising straight out of the soil it describes. Every sentence hums with tenderness and quiet power, capturing how the land holds pain, history, and love long after people think it’s gone. O’Farrell renders longing and survival with such grace that even the landscape breathes. This is a story that understands how trauma roots itself deep in families and places, and how healing is slow, fragile, and necessary. I closed the book feeling awed and profoundly grateful to have read something so beautifully written and so deeply human—a reflection of O’Farrell’s breathtaking talent and the beautiful, generous soul that infuses her writing.

Many thanks to Edelweiss+ and Knopf for providing an eARC prior to publication in exchange for an honest review.

[Kristen Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Land is a novel about separation and reunion, tragedy and recovery, colonization and rebellion. It 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. As spellbinding and varied as the landscape that inspired it, Land is, above all, a story of survival, for our times, and for all time."
Fans of Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet, will savor this beautifully written masterpiece about a family living and surviving in 19th Century Ireland. It starts mysteriously, slowly building each character's history and through time, growth. There are elements of mysticism, tradition, classism and religion; all playing integral parts of the fates of each member of this family of six. There is a lot of tragedy and loss in this novel, so be prepared to feel a sense of sadness and reflection at its conclusion.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm picky with my five star reviews, so reading one so early in the year shows just how great this book was.

Maggie O'Farrell is a favorite author of mine and I believe that Land is going to be as popular, if not more than, Hamnet. I don't want to give too much away because this was beautiful for me as I didn't know the plot when I started and it was just a great read. I loved the descriptions of Ireland and like O'Farrell's other books, just a stunning depiction of the human experience in a time that we haven't experienced physically, but now through beautiful prose, have been able to be a part of in some small way.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Beautifully written and researched, with some heart-wrenching descriptions of the Great Hunger and its generational aftereffects. I only wished that there had been a stronger focus on just one character, because the narrative became diffused throughout the different members of the family and I didn't feel that I knew them or understood any of their motivations as clearly as I wanted to. And after a while it just became a beatdown of tragedy after tragedy in a way that became wearily predictable - can these people not have ONE NICE THING?! Recommended but with the caveat that you may not want to read this if life is already getting you down right now.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

[Mallory Moyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cartographer Tomás and his young son Liam are mapping the Irish countryside for the colonizing redcoats. An epiphanic (spiritual? magical?) experience in a hidden copse transforms Tomás’ perspective and changes the course of their lives, plus those of his wife Phina, and their other children, Enda, Rose, and Eugene. The rest of this sweeping history is mainly driven by the lush interior lives of the characters, equally haunted and spurred onwards by ghosts of the past, and examinations of their ties to each other and their land - microcosmically their coastal hut but more broadly, Ireland as homeland.

Land is a 400~ page novel that feels like an 800 page opus and is an absolute masterpiece. It is grand and sweeping while still feeling intimate and quiet and thoughtful.

[Traci · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Levi Collins]

Land by Maggie O’Farrell feels like a powerful and deeply emotional novel where the landscape itself becomes a keeper of memory. The story explores loss, separation, survival, and the slow process of healing after tragedy. With its rich historical atmosphere and lyrical writing, the book reflects on family bonds and the deep roots that tie people to place. It promises a moving and thoughtful reading experience.For those who are looking for entertainment and new experiences, I recommend visiting https://kasinoslovensko10.com/. Hopefully this request gets the attention it deserves.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Land by Maggie O’Farrell is set in Ireland and sprawls outward—sometimes meandering across oceans, generations, and continents—before finding its way back home again. It follows an Irish couple who meet as children in a workhouse during the famine and later build a family. The story shifts between family members’ perspectives; the alternating POV might be a little confusing at times, but O’Farrell’s writing is beautifully crafted. Overall, it’s a melancholy and sometimes heartbreaking story, but I couldn’t look away.

[Ivy Withers Esterly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

A similar tone to Hamnet, a family under duress struggles as they try to overcome the tragedies that befall them. Taking place during and after the Great Hunger in Ireland in the late 1800s, the story follows multiple perspectives in one household as the father reacts to old memories after an eventful encounter. It forces the reader to contemplate systemic injustices and how generations still feel the effects of previous generations’ trauma. Beautifully written and moving, O’Farrell manages to immerse you into this family and this land.

[Carol Scheherazade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her most personal book yet. Instead of review, I’ll talk about my grandfather who was born of Irish mother. She imparted onto him the love of the land, the history, the Confusion about Ireland. I felt all this in the story. Viscerally. Beautiful.

[Lisa F. Ellner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maggie O’Farrell has done it again. This book is mesmerizing and captivating - brimming with O’Farrell’s knack for intricate and detailed storytelling through characters and settings. I could not put it down.

[Jane Nolan]

I’m gonna freak out

[Susan Houghton]

Pub date June 2, 2026

[Mary Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich. Amazing.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning. Beautiful, heart breaking, and immensely captivating. This will be a hit.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart wrenching and glorious.

[thehalcyondaysofsummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opening lines: ‘His father was ever a man of few words.’

O’Farrell at her best - sublime