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THE MUST-READ SUMMER 2020 RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK

‘If you wished Normal People had tackled female friendship, try Expectation’ GRAZIA
‘Profoundly intelligent and humane. Deserves to feature on many a prize shortlist’ GUARDIAN
‘A brilliant exploration of friendship, feminism and thwarted ambition’ PANDORA SYKES
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What happened to the women we were supposed to become?

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.

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‘Thoughtful, beautifully written, honest. A sensual book. I URGE YOU TO READ IT’ MARIAN KEYES

‘Beautiful, sharp, moving. I urge you to read it” ELIZABETH DAY

‘A brilliant exploration of friendship, feminism and thwarted ambition’ PANDORA SYKES

‘I loved it … 10 out of 10’ BRYONY GORDON

‘Will resonate with approximately 99% of women’ RED MAGAZINE summer pick

‘One of the most intensely readable novels this year’ METRO

‘One of our most gifted contemporary writers’ WATERSTONES

‘SO GOOD. A ‘What they did next’ story of characters from a Sally Rooney novel’ SARAH FRANKLIN

‘The story of 3 college friends, if you’re a fan of Sally Rooney, you’ll love EXPECTATION’ IRISH EXAMINER

‘A must-read’ FABULOUS MAGAZINE

‘A generation-defining book on motherhood, ambition and sex. Like NORMAL PEOPLE with female friendship under the microscope.’ ERIN KELLY

‘Few novels leave me so genuinely breathless with their brilliance’ HANNAH BECKERMAN

‘Sublime’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, Book of the Year

‘A marvellously tangy London novel’ DAILY MAIL

‘A grown-up, honest take on female camaraderie. Packed with talking points’ MAIL ON SUNDAY

‘Hugely absorbing, massively enjoyable’ LISSA EVANS

‘Totally unputdownable, immersive, sharp, FAB’ HARRIET EVANS

‘Beautifully observed study of female friendship and a moving account of the collision between aspiration and reality’ DAILY MAIL MUST-READ

‘Fantastically well-realised portrait of female friendship’s joys and pains from an exciting new voice in British fiction’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

Publisher Review

Hope beautifully examines how female friendship, its issues entirely relatable, ebbs and flows over time in this wise and engaging read * SUNDAY EXPRESS * A quietly political story that suggests historic battles have left women with new impossible burdens of expectation. A marvellously tangy London novel * DAILY MAIL * The prose is beautiful, the characters achingly real, their flawed decisions enraging and yet somehow still relatable. This wonderful book will resonate with every woman who reads it * LOUISE O'NEILL * Sensual and evocative, deeply attuned to both the inner lives of the protagonists * CULTUREFLY * A deftly crafted hymn to the comfort and frustration of female friendship from one of our most gifted contemporary writers * WATERSTONES * A must-read. Will make you want to hug the women in you life * FABULOUS MAGAZINE Book of the Year * Such a dark, relatable, elegant take on how time alters female friendships: how we become THESE people and our friends become THOSE people. Anyway, I loved it. You probably will, too * LIZA KLAUSSMANN, author of Tigers in Red Weather * So fresh, human, kind and relatable * JENNY COLGAN * An intimate and touching portrayal of female friendship that shows it's okay to just be * NINA POTTELL * I absolutely loved this. What really appealed to me was the depiction of the parents, about legacy and about what the mother's generation leaves for the one that comes after * ANNE YOUNGSON * I tore through EXPECTATION at the weekend. Exceptional gorgeously written and reads like a love letter to London. I highly recommend it * STACEY HALLS, bestselling author of THE FAMILIARS * I loved it. Raw, honest, unputdownable. * TAMMY COHEN * A generation-defining book, honest and relatable on motherhood, ambition and sex. Like NORMAL PEOPLE with female friendship under the microscope * ERIN KELLY, bestselling author of HE SAID/SHE SAID * Succulent, tender and honest, EXPECTATION is about the relationships between women: love, loss, triumph and betrayal. It was one of those books that knowingly flirted, then seduced me and then utterly ravished me * TOR UDALL * Few novels leave me genuinely breathless with their brilliance. EXPECTATION is one of them. This book is beautiful. I am in AWE * HANNAH BECKERMAN * Anna Hope has a way of getting inside difficult and painful moments, turning them inside out. I felt I knew these women as my own friends. Taut, electric, complex, funny. * RACHEL JOYCE bestselling author of THE UNEXPECTED PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY * Jaw-droppingly good * SARRA MANNING * EDITOR'S CHOICE: I enjoyed this contemporary novel about the gulf between the expectation of how life will turn out and the reality... [it] taps into the current conversation about finding fulfilment and living a meaningful life. -- Alice O'Keeffe * The Bookseller * BEST BOOKS FOR JULY: Expectation has defied all my expectations and completely redefined the friendship novel. Each of the characters resonated with me and I'm in awe of the way Anna Hope captures what it means to be a woman, right here, right now, with all the precision of a surgeon's knife. * Red Magazine Book of the Year * Hope's writing is sublime and her characters so well fleshed out they will feel like friends at the end * Good Housekeeping Book of the Year * Absolutely encapsulates what it means to be a young woman today, and beyond * Grazia Magazine * The real joy of this novel - while exploring just what second wave feminism has done for this generation of women ("you've had everything... we changed the world for you. For our daughters. And what have you done with it?") - is in it's writing; the dialogue and the honesty behind these characters who are doing their best, who are trying to live up to the fictional counterparts that they themselves have created... It's the perfect summer reading * STYLIST MAGAZINE * A Sally Rooney-esque evocative examination of female friendship * BEST SUMMER READS, i-newspaper * Brilliant portrayal of long-term female friendships . . . I was gripped. * Prima * Thoughtful, beautifully written, honest. A sensual book. I URGE YOU TO READ IT * MARIAN KEYES * Will resonate with approximately 99 % of all women * RED magazine summer pick * I loved it . . . 10 out of 10! * BRYONY GORDON * One of the most intensely readable novels I've encountered this year * METRO * A brilliant exploration of friendship, feminism and thwarted ambition * Pandora Sykes * Profoundly intelligent and humane. Deserves to feature on many a prize shortlist * Guardian *