Blog Tour: Expectation by Anna Hope

Released: 11th July 2019

Publisher: Doubleday (Penguin Random House)

Genre: Literary / general / women's fiction

Blurb:

Hannah, Cate and Lissa are young, vibrant and inseparable. Living on the edge of a common in East London, their shared world is ablaze with art and activism, romance and revelry – and the promise of everything to come. They are electric. They are the best of friends. Ten years on, they are not where they hoped to be. Amidst flailing careers and faltering marriages, each hungers for what the others have. And each wrestles with the same question: what does it take to lead a meaningful life? The most razor-sharp and heartbreaking novel of the year, EXPECTATION is a novel about finding your way: as a mother, a daughter, a wife, a rebel. FOR FANS OF SALLY ROONEY, DIANA EVANS, DOLLY ALDERTON, ELIZABETH DAY AND FLEABAG

My Thoughts:

I absolutely adored this book.

I love to read about friendship and I feel that as a theme it can be hard to find in fiction. From the outset, I was drawn into these girl's lives almost as a newly recruited member of the group.

There were elements of the Virgin Suicides in this, and I enjoyed the nostalgic feeling I got from the imagery of the old house in London, the long tipsy summer afternoons in the park / back garden.

I also loved the different time settings - another theme that piqued my interest from the blurb. Perhaps it's partly from me being a similar age to the women in the story, or perhaps due to me having written a novel with similar themes of friendship and coming of age. Or perhaps it's just that Anna Hope is a damn good writer.

I wanted to be friends with these characters, even with some of the friendships becoming toxic and mean at times. I was whisked along and engrossed, I had to then lend the novel to my mum so I had someone to talk to about it (she adored it too) It's an exquisite, dark and indulgent piece of writing that I must admit I almost wish I'd written.

It will no doubt hold a place in my top books of the year, and I just wish I could go back and read it again, which I will in the future. If you are looking for a summery read with nostalgia and intricately written relationships; a novel that you will fly through as it will be in your hands while you cook, walk and try not to fall over; a book to make you escape from social media, then read this.

Thanks so much to Anne Cater and Doubleday for having me on this tour and sending me a copy. Thanks to Anna Hope for writing a wonderful story and reading my thoughts while I fangirl over her work.