Expectation: A Novel - Hardcover

Hope, Anna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062994700 ISBN 13: 9780062994707

Publisher: Harper, 2020

Synopsis

Also available in Trade Paperback Original

In this sharply observed novel set in and around London, three college friends, now in their thirties, must come to terms with the gap between the lives they imagined for themselves and reality in the face of marriage, fertility struggles, and loss.

"The female friendships here are ones we’ll all recognize, and in seeing myself in each of these women—their good moments and their bad-I felt implicated in their stories, and in this book. It’s an outstanding novel.”—Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes

In her first year of motherhood after an unplanned pregnancy, Cate is constantly exhausted, spiraling into self-doubt and postpartum anxiety. Her husband Sam seems oblivious, but maybe she’d prefer he remain in the dark. How can she admit the unthinkable—that she misses her freedom?

In contrast, Hannah continues to endure round after round of unsuccessful IVF treatments. The process is taking its toll on her physically and emotionally—and, she worries, creating distance between her and her husband Nathan. She is godmother to Cate’s son, but every time they get together, it’s a trigger.

Beautiful and unattached, Lissa is re-evaluating what it means to be an actress in her thirties. While she fiercely resists convention, she’s also lonely. A chance encounter in the British Library with Nathan has her wondering if she missed her best chance at love when she introduced him to Hannah.

As each woman longs for what the others seemingly possess, will their bonds of friendship sustain them in this liminal phase of their lives—or will their envy and desire tear them apart?

About this title

About the Author

Anna Hope is the internationally prize-winning and bestselling author of Wake, The Ballroom, Expectation, and The White Rock. She studied at Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and her novels have been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in Sussex with her family.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062994700
• ISBN 13: 9780062994707
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384