Expectation: The most razor-sharp and heartbreaking novel of the year

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I don't think that the big plot-twist of the book (Nathan cheating on Hannah with Lissa) was dealt with in a good way. Ultimately, the novel’s message is a simple one: life is tough and we will often make mistakes and compromises, but we just do the best we can and try to be there for each other.

The White Rock: From the bestselling author of The Ballroom

While none of Hope’s three woman protagonists have the eventful past of Florence Welch, they face a similar dilemma.It is a compelling and thought-provoking study of three women: Cate, a new mum struggling with the responsibilities of motherhood, an overbearing mother-in-law and a partner who is becoming more distant by the day; Hannah, apparently successful and living a comfortable life with her university lecturer husband but in fact focussing wholly on her IVF treatment and wracked with grief because she cannot conceive; and Lissa, short for Melissa, a failing actress who sees herself as ‘the sum total…of her failures’. I say 'just' but really mean to say that this book shows that a person's everyday true to life struggles and triumphs can make for an amazing page-turning reading experience. They know, however, that they must never lose sight of their friends - even when their relationships are sorely tested. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value?

Expectation by Anna Hope - Culturefly Book Review: Expectation by Anna Hope - Culturefly

The worry about climate change— they worry about knife crime and gun crime— they were about their own relative privilege. The specific plot twists are slightly predictable, a few threads aren’t investigated as fully as they might be (Cate’s history with Lucy, chiefly) and I didn’t always feel as close to the main characters as I wanted to – first-person narration might have been better for creating that intimacy. Furthermore, despite it’s somewhat novel structure, I found the writing style of this book lacklustre and dull; Descriptions of characters and events lacked and real depth and failed to draw me in. This story of three best friends and the They live a comfortable London life and yet for all her external successes, Hannah is desperately unhappy because of her inability to conceive despite repeated rounds of IVF.

The book starts off on the slow side and then gradually gets more and more interesting as it progresses.