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

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Devastatingly perceptive and emotionally wise, Expectation deserves to feature on many a book prize shortlist this year. The result is a pleasingly immersive novel which is a clear-eyed testament to the value of enduring friendship while far from romanticising it. Yet another point on which this novel felt tailor made for me was that it switched between Manchester, London and Canterbury - all places that I’ve lived or spent a lot of time in. When I first finished this book, I rated it a 4 stars but looking back, that was too generous and I think it was more of a 3 stars.

It hit so many important points for me in quite an emotive way and for that reason I think it’s a fantastic read that many other women may find cathartic. Such a dark, relatable, elegant take on how time alters female friendships: how we become THESE people and our friends become THOSE people. Maybe it’s because I’m at the ‘pivotal’ stage in my life where the heroines of Expectation are at their most hopeful, alive with the hope of it all - and to comprehend the possibility that in ten years' time I might not be where I had hoped is devastating. This book is rich with emotional depth and beauty, it grapples several heart-breaking issues and slowly, subtly, draws the reader further and further into an exquisite story.Expectation by Anna Hope follows three friends as they come to terms with the difficulties in their lives and find a way to move forward. All three settle into a house overlooking London Fields after university, living lives full of hard work and enjoyment.

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. Sie kennen sich aus Schul- und Studienzeiten, haben gemeinsam eine alte Villa in London bewohnt und früher viele Träume und Hoffnungen geteilt. This is a surprisingly unambitious novel from Anna Hope after her wonderful Wake and the unusual The Ballroom. We expect so much from ourselves,and feel we owe the world so much that we don't actually stop and be kind to ourselves anymore.Successful Hannah, married to Nathan would kill to be in Cate's shoes as she undertakes another round of IVF. She throws some half-hearted activism plot points into the mix, presumably to earn the title quote of 'what happened to the women we were supposed to become? And their children talk, too - they know each other well, it is clear; they tell Lissa about a holiday they all took last summer to France.

Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.Anna Hope’s new novel is very different from Wake and The Ballroom, her first two, both of which I enjoyed and both of which were set in the early twentieth century.

Lissa, a beautiful but failed jobbing actress, struggles to earn enough money to live on and despite attracting plenty of male attention, she finds it difficult to form lasting relationships. The book is thoughtful, complicated and relatable, I found myself feeling the rollercoaster of emotions that the characters did but also reassured that as a woman in today’s world where our plans are always being tested, I'm not alone. 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.Without spoilers I’ll just say that I found some of Lissa’s actions impossible to understand to the degree that it fractured the experience of reading the novel for me and I also struggled to see Cate as as fully fleshed out a character compared to the other two.