'Expectation' by Anna Hope (Transworld, 2019)
A few years ago, I read Anna Hope's 'Wake', a thoughtful novel set in the aftermath of the First World War and structured around the return of the Unknown Warrior. This was followed by 'The Ballroom', also set in the early 20th century. In the forthcoming 'Expectation', Hope arrives in the 21st century with a story of three modern women and the challenges faced when dreams don't become reality.
London, 2004: Hannah, Cate and Lissa are best friends, housemates with their whole lives ahead of them and high hopes for successful careers, fulfilling relationships and ongoing friendship. But ten years on, they are not where they expected to be. Despite their best efforts, things have not gone to plan - in work, in marriage or in motherhood. As the gap between their twenty-something aspirations and the thirty-something reality dawns, they struggle to reconcile the two. Faced with an overwhelming desire to salvage something of their youthful hopes and dreams, each acts desperately in a last ditch attempt to find the satisfaction they crave. As obsession, lust and regret take hold, can their friendship survive its greatest test?
