What does it take to live a meaningful life? That’s the subject of Anna Hope’s new novel, Expectation.
Hannah, Cate and Lissa are young, vivacious and close to each other as only young people are. Living in East London, they spend their days exploring romance, art, activism and merriment, and are convinced that the world to come will give them everything they hope for, and more. Truly best friends, they believe that they will be inseparable forever. Ten years on, and things have changed. Their once electric world is now faltering amid flailing careers and fractured marriages. Each longs for what the others have.
Hope’s prose is spiky and acute. She’s on form when writing witty prose, and gets inside the complex moments with tenderness and intimacy. Female friendships are the subject, rather than romantic, but these relationships are deep and meaningful, and underpin the lives of the protagonists.
The novel was inspired by American TV series The Affair.
It’s a warm and emotional novel that shimmers with brilliance. Well worth adding to the ‘to read’ list.