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

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A beautiful novel, not as ambitious as Hope’s previous historical fiction, but possessed of an exceptional veracity. Left me with thoughts about my youth and now my ‘old’ stage of life, so many changes but still passion for what matters to me. Dabei fällt das Lesen nicht immer leicht, es ist mitunter sehr schmerzhaft und auch zuweilen fast unangenehm, Hannah, Cate und Lissa auf ihren sich immer wieder kreuzenden Wegen zu begleiten.

What annoyed me the most was the fact that after Nathan cheats on Hannah and comes back to collect his things, she sleeps with him and that’s how she finally gets pregnant.I picked up this book after it was recommended on the podcast The High Low and was immediately hooked. The weight of societal expectations has these women caught in a loop of success, fertility and motherhood. Hope's novel is being compared to Sally Rooney's award–winning 'Normal People', but I personally found this author’s lower-key writing style more accessible and her characters rather more believable. Cate involves herself in the anti-capitalism movement, leaving her lover in the States when her visa runs out while Lissa becomes an actor with all the insecurity that entails. That last bit is especially overblown, though the reference to a particular generation does indicate that this is really meant for an early-40s female audience, though women some years either side of that should still enjoy it.

It wasn’t as though the topics and themes were inventive - but the writing was so seamless-readable - engaging - and real. Also, I knew from the very first page that Lissa was going to sleep with Nathan, who is Hannah’s husband/boyfriend, I don’t know, so that was so predictable. It wouldn't be interesting even if Hope had something new to say on the subject, which she definitively does not. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy this book, because I did, it kept me wanting to read on, but there was just something missing from it.So you’re that desperate to have a child that you're prepared to bring it into what is probably a really unhealthy environment between you and your partner.

Whereas Hannah and Lissa live in London, Cate has recently relocated to Canterbury, so her bits are mostly separated from the rest of the narrative and feature a completely different cast of characters, including a friendly fellow mum and a truly ghastly brother-in-law. This is a well-written and perceptively-observed story that will resonate with many women who are, or who have been, in similar situations, and overall the novel makes for involving and entertaining reading. Subjected to the interference of an overbearing mother-in-law and the relentless demands of a young baby, her relationship with her partner, Sam, is increasingly distant: “This is the pattern of their evenings.Despite knowing she is lucky to be alive and have a family, she feels lonely and trapped, any aspirations she once nurtured have been curtailed or abandoned. Cate has the most potential of the three, but gets the least screen-time, and the most intriguing aspects of her past are barely explored. Overall it was an okay read that made me reflect on some important themes, but I definitely expected more from it. Most of all, it explores that liminal space between expectation and reality, the place - full of dreams, desires and pain - in which we all live our lives. The characters are well-described and the situations that they find themselves in are convincingly portrayed and I would have liked to have learnt more about each of the women and also more about the supporting characters - particularly Lissa’s mother who seemed to have lived a full and interesting life; I also would have liked to have read a little more about some of the peripheral characters, such as the young woman Cate met at a playgroup who was in a same sex relationship and who helped Cate to see things in a different light.