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. 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?
A searing novel of forbidden love on the Yorkshire moors—“a British version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (The Times U.K.)—from the author of the critically acclaimed debut Wake England, 1911. At Sharston Asylum, men and women are separated by thick walls and barred windows. But on Friday nights, they are allowed to mingle in the asylum’s magnificent ballroom. From its balconies and vaulted ceilings to its stained glass, the ballroom is a sanctuary. Onstage, the orchestra plays Strauss and Debussy while the patients twirl across the gleaming dance floor. Amid this heady ambience, John Mulligan and Ella Fay first meet. John is a sure-footed dancer with a clouded, secretive face; Ella is as skittish as a colt, with her knobby knees and flushed cheeks. Despite their grim circumstances, the unlikely pair strikes up a tenuous courtship. During the week, he writes letters smuggled to her in secret, unaware that Ella cannot read. She enlists a friend to read them aloud and gains resolve from the force of John’s words, each sentence a stirring incantation. And, of course, there’s always the promise of the ballroom. Then one of them receives an unexpected opportunity to leave Sharston for good. As Anna Hope’s powerful, bittersweet novel unfolds, John and Ella face an agonizing dilemma: whether to cling to familiar comforts or to confront a new world—living apart, yet forever changed. Praise for The Ballroom “The Ballroom successfully blends historical research with emotional intelligence to explore the tensions and trials of the human condition with grace and insight.”—New York Times Book Review “Part historical novel and part romance, The Ballroom paints an incredibly rich portrait of the mentally stable forced to live in an asylum. [Anna] Hope transports readers inside the asylum, to feel the thick humidity of the stale summer air of the day room, and the gritty and brutal reality inside those walls.”—Booklist “A compelling cast of emotionally resonant characters, as well as a bittersweet climax, render Hope’s second novel a powerful, memorable experience.”—Publishers Weekly “Hope’s writing is consistently beautiful. . . . Recommended for readers who enjoy historical fiction by Sarah Waters or Emma Donoghue.”—Library Journal “A beautifully wrought novel, a tender, heartbreaking and insightful exploration of the longings that survive in the most inhospitable environments.”—Sunday Express “The Ballroom has all the intensity and lyricism of [Anna] Hope’s debut, Wake. At its heart is a tender and absorbing love story.”—Daily Mail “Compelling and masterful . . . Anna Hope has proven once again that she is a luminary in historical fiction. . . . She delivers profound, poignant narratives that stir the emotions.”—Yorkshire Post “As with Hope’s highly acclaimed debut novel, Wake, the writing is elegant and insightful; she writes beautifully about human emotion, landscape and weather.”—The Observer “A brilliantly moving meditation on what it means to be ‘insane’ in a cruel world . . . All the characters are vividly and sensitively drawn. . . . Deeply moving.”—The Irish Times
A heart-breaking historical tale of love and hope set at the end of the Great War. 'Hopeâe(tm)s unblinking prose is reminiscent of Vera Brittainâe(tm)s classic memoir Testament of Youth' - New York Times Remembrance Day 1920: A wartime secret connects three womenâe(tm)s lives: Hettie whose wounded brother wonâe(tm)t speak; Evelyn who still grieves for her lost lover; and Ada, who has never received an official letter about her sonâe(tm)s death, and is still waiting for him to come home. As the mystery that binds them begins to unravel, far away, in the fields of France, the Unknown Soldier embarks on his journey home. The mood of the nation is turning towards the future âe" but can these three women ever let go of the past?
Anna Hope’s brilliant debut unfolds over the course of five days, as three women must deal with the aftershocks of World War I and its impact on the men in their lives. Wake: 1) Emerge or cause to emerge from sleep. 2) Ritual for the dead. 3) Consequence or aftermath. London, 1920. The city prepares to observe the two-year anniversary of Armistice Day with the burial of the unknown soldier. Many are still haunted by the war: Hettie, a dance instructress, lives at home with her mother and her brother, who is mute after his return from combat. One night Hettie meets a wealthy, educated man and finds herself smitten with him. But there is something distracted about him, something she cannot reach. . . . Evelyn works at the Pensions Exchange, through which thousands of men have claimed benefits from wounds or debilitating distress. Embittered by her own loss, she looks for solace in her adored brother, who has not been the same since he returned from the front. . . . Ada is beset by visions of her son on every street, convinced he is still alive. Helpless, her loving husband has withdrawn from her. Then one day a young man appears at her door, seemingly with notions to peddle, like hundreds of out-of-work veterans. But when he utters the name of her son, Ada is jolted to the core. The lives of these three women are braided together, their stories gathering tremendous power as the ties that bind them become clear, and the body of the unknown soldier moves closer and closer to its final resting place. Advance praise for Wake “Hope’s unblinking prose is reminiscent of Vera Brittain’s classic memoir Testament of Youth in its depiction of the social and emotional fallout, particularly on women, of the Great War. . . . Hope reaches beyond the higher echelons of society to women of different social classes, all linked by their reluctance to bid goodbye to the world the conflict has shattered.”—The New York Times Book Review “Wake is a tender and timely novel, full of compassion and quiet insight. The author gives us a moving and original glimpse into the haunted peace after the Great War, her characters drawn by the gravity of the unmarked, the unknown, and perhaps, finally, the unhoped for.”—Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee “Wake is a compelling and emotionally charged debut about the painful aftermath of war and the ways—small, brave, or commonplace—in which we keep ourselves going. It touches feelings we know, and settings—dance halls, war fronts, queues outside the grocer’s—that we don’t. I loved it.”—Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry “Wake is powerful and humane, a novel that charms and beguiles. Anna Hope’s characters are so real, flawed, and searching, and her prose so natural, one almost forgets how very great a story she is telling.”—Sadie Jones, author of The Uninvited Guests “Using telling detail, Hope creates a vibrant physical and emotional landscape in which her leading characters, and a sea of others, move irresistibly into the future, some having found resolution, others still in search. Fresh, confident, yet understated, Hope’s first work movingly revisits immense tragedy while also confirming her own highly promising ability.”—Kirkus Reviews
THE MUST-READ SUMMER 2020 RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 'If you wished Normal People had tackled female friendship, try Expectation' GRAZIA 'Profoundly intelligent and humane. Deserves to feature on many a prize shortlist' GUARDIAN 'A brilliant exploration of friendship, feminism and thwarted ambition' PANDORA SYKES ______________________ What happened to the women we were supposed to become? Hannah, Cate and Lissa are young, vibrant and inseparable. 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. They are electric. They are the best of friends. Ten years on, they are not where they hoped to be. Amidst flailing careers and faltering marriages, each hungers for what the others have. And each wrestles with the same question: what does it take to lead a meaningful life? The most razor-sharp and heartbreaking novel of the year, EXPECTATION is a novel about finding your way: as a mother, a daughter, a wife, a rebel. ___________________ 'Thoughtful, beautifully written, honest. A sensual book. I URGE YOU TO READ IT' MARIAN KEYES 'Beautiful, sharp, moving. I urge you to read it'' ELIZABETH DAY 'A brilliant exploration of friendship, feminism and thwarted ambition' PANDORA SYKES 'I loved it ... 10 out of 10' BRYONY GORDON 'Will resonate with approximately 99% of women' RED MAGAZINE summer pick 'One of the most intensely readable novels this year' METRO 'One of our most gifted contemporary writers' WATERSTONES 'SO GOOD. A 'What they did next' story of characters from a Sally Rooney novel' SARAH FRANKLIN 'The story of 3 college friends, if you're a fan of Sally Rooney, you'll love EXPECTATION' IRISH EXAMINER 'A must-read' FABULOUS MAGAZINE 'A generation-defining book on motherhood, ambition and sex. Like NORMAL PEOPLE with female friendship under the microscope.' ERIN KELLY 'Few novels leave me so genuinely breathless with their brilliance' HANNAH BECKERMAN 'Sublime' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, Book of the Year 'A marvellously tangy London novel' DAILY MAIL 'A grown-up, honest take on female camaraderie. Packed with talking points' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Hugely absorbing, massively enjoyable' LISSA EVANS 'Totally unputdownable, immersive, sharp, FAB' HARRIET EVANS 'Beautifully observed study of female friendship and a moving account of the collision between aspiration and reality' DAILY MAIL MUST-READ 'Fantastically well-realised portrait of female friendship's joys and pains from an exciting new voice in British fiction' DAILY TELEGRAPH
The unputdownable historical novel by the acclaimed and bestselling author of WAKE and EXPECTATION: a devastating story of love and madness at the brink of the Great War. 'Absolutely heart-breaking. One of the best books I’ve ever read' DINAH JEFFERIES, author of The Tea-Planter's Wife 'Compelling, elegant, insightful' OBSERVER 1911: Inside an asylum at the edge of the Yorkshire moors, where men and women are kept apart by high walls and barred windows, there is a ballroom vast and beautiful. For one bright evening every week they come together and dance. When John and Ella meet it is a dance that will change two lives forever. Set over the heatwave summer of 1911, the end of the Edwardian era, THE BALLROOM tells a rivetting tale of dangerous obsession, of madness and sanity, and of who gets to decide which is which. It is a love story like no other. ***************************************** Praise for Anna Hope's The Ballroom: 'Beautifully wrought, tender, heartbreaking' Sunday Express 5/5 'Moving, fascinating' Times 'A tender and absorbing love story' Daily Mail 'Unsentimental and affecting' Sunday Times 'Exquisitely good' Metro 'Absolutely fantastic . . . I'm in real awe of her writing' ELIZABETH MACNEAL, author of The Doll Factory ______________
The first issue of Potion for the Passionate carries with it strong whispers of hope we reflect on little moments of joy amidst the tragic COVID-19 pandemic. As the world learns to adapt to the new normal, we find the glimmer of happiness in our humble abode.
In the well known myth of Pandora, hope was the last and most need gift at the bottom of a box of myriad misfortunes let loose on an unsuspecting world. For most human beings hope is a positive benefit. Anna Potamianou shows how in the 'borderline' patient hope can become a perverted and omnipotent means of denying reality. Indeed, in such individuals any state of mind or feeling can take on the status of an object, which is then used as a barrier against their fear of change. The psychic economy and dynamics of borderline states are not yet well understood and this book makes an important contribution to the clinical debate.
This book is on long life and on long marriages. Looking at family and friends who emphasize building relations of hope, care, and friendship over time. Life and fruitfulness are a blessing and gifts of God. This book is a look too at marriage in America. Anna Smith is a retired social worker who gave thirty-one years of service in Child Welfare Service. She spent her last working years in Adult Protective Services. She and Aaron A. Smith, PhD are the parents of two adult and married daughters and the grandparents of six grandchildren. Anna was born in Meadville, Mississippi. It is detailed in this book why she and her family moved from Mississippi to Illinois, then to California. She and siblings were raised to know we are part American Indian. When she asked her mother if she knew what tribes we are from? Mother replied, "Sho' I know!" and is detailed in this book. Her father and mother talked with us children of God and Jesus. Her father told us children to stay in school and to achieve, all of us siblings are high school graduates. Her oldest sister became a registered nurse. Anna graduated San Jose State College (now University) and Howard University.
Starting in the 1860s, the people of Covert, Michigan, broke laws and barriers to attempt what then seemed impossible: to love one's neighbor as oneself. This is the inspiring, true story of an extraordinary town where blacks and whites lived as equals.
Whilst cycling to work one day, I heard a distant voice holler smack head! Little did I know that voice would be one I never would forget as I would soon discover who this person was and I would be terrorized on a daily basis. After many years of suffering in silence, my weight dropping to a life threatening four stone I spoke out. Only in my eyes that was a mistakeas now my whole familys lives will never be the same again.
What might a sixteenth-century Spanish nun and an eighteenth-century French architect have in common? Hope of Stones invites you into a cross-century conversation among The Nun, The Architect, and The Poet that explores the desire to create and connect across time and other unseen things.
For more than three hundred years, black women have embodied a theology of hope which has enabled them to overcome a history of abuse and violence. While a theology of hope has been widely discussed in twentieth centry theology, it was born in slavery long before Jurgen Moltmann introduced it to America in 1967. Even womanist notions of hope have not explored the theological character of hope in abused black women's narratives. A. Elaine Brown Crawford argues that hope is the theological construct that moves black women beyond endurance and survival to transformation of their personal and communal realities. This book identifies and analyzes the theological vision of hope voiced within the narratives of enslaved, emancipated, and contemporary black women and brings that vision into discussion with contemporary womanist theologies.
In the well known myth of Pandora, hope was the last and most need gift at the bottom of a box of myriad misfortunes let loose on an unsuspecting world. For most human beings hope is a positive benefit. Anna Potamianou shows how in the 'borderline' patient hope can become a perverted and omnipotent means of denying reality. Indeed, in such individuals any state of mind or feeling can take on the status of an object, which is then used as a barrier against their fear of change. The psychic economy and dynamics of borderline states are not yet well understood and this book makes an important contribution to the clinical debate.
The first issue of Potion for the Passionate carries with it strong whispers of hope we reflect on little moments of joy amidst the tragic COVID-19 pandemic. As the world learns to adapt to the new normal, we find the glimmer of happiness in our humble abode.
A devastating accident is only the start of Emily Mattinson’s troubles . . . When Emily Mattison falls victim to a near-fatal accident shortly after receiving an unexpected inheritance from a distant cousin, her ruthless nephew George seizes the opportunity to take control of his aunt’s assets. It’s only when Emily reaches The Drover’s Hope, the former pub on the edge of the Lancashire moors, bequeathed to her by her late cousin Penelope, that she begins to feel safe. She also discovers that love can be found in the most unexpected places. But it’s not so easy to escape the clutches of someone as determined as George . . .
Whilst cycling to work one day, I heard a distant voice holler smack head! Little did I know that voice would be one I never would forget as I would soon discover who this person was and I would be terrorized on a daily basis. After many years of suffering in silence, my weight dropping to a life threatening four stone I spoke out. Only in my eyes that was a mistakeas now my whole familys lives will never be the same again.
When Gabrielle Newman throws her cheating husband out, Stu cares more about the money than the break-up, getting more than his fair share from their house sale. An unexpected bequest offers Gabrielle a new start and she tries to leave the past behind, heading north with Dan Monahan, the private investigator sent to find her. Meanwhile, Stu has got entangled with organized crime in Eastern Europe and is desperate to pay his gambling debts. Gabrielle needs Dan's help to protect herself and her inheritance. She's very attracted to Dan - but dare she trust any man again? Then Stu tracks down his ex-wife and Gabrielle discovers just what the man she once loved is capable of, as her life is threatened. Can she and Dan find a way to stop Stu and his ruthless new friends?
An unexpected inheritance offers Libby Pulford the opportunity to escape her abusive marriage and return to her Lancashire roots with her young son Ned. But her domineering husband Steven won't let her go so easily. Just as she's beginning to settle into her new life, Libby's troubled past catches up with her. The one person she can turn to for help is her new neighbour, former police detective Joss Atherton, to whom Libby feels a growing attraction. But Joss has troubles of his own. In the meantime, Emily Mattison is enjoying new-found domestic happiness with her fiance Chad. The only blot on the horizon is the fact that she's been unable to make contact with the long-lost daughter she was forced to give up for adoption so many years before. People's lives are destined to intertwine in ways they could never have imagined.
The true story of a beloved banyan tree and a community that fought to save it in the wake of Hurricane Maria. On the tropical island of Puerto Rico, there was an ancient banyan tree. His enormous twisted trunk rose up beside the San Juan Gate. Long roots hung from his wide-spreading branches and his emerald, leafy crown greeted all who passed by. This beloved tree stood on the shore of the island for over a hundred years--until the fateful time when the biggest hurricane in Puerto Rico's history slammed into the island, devastating communities and uprooting that very tree. This lushly illustrated and evocatively written picture book tells the story of the majestic jagüey blanco, one of the most beloved trees in the city of Old San Juan. Puerto Rican author Anna Orenstein-Cardona weaves an epic tale based on the true story of this bearded watchdog of the island, how the tree was impacted by Hurricane Maria, and how a group of people rallied together to save it. With gorgeous illustrations by Juan Manuel Moreno, this picture book serves as an account of the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria and the strength of the people who continue to rebuild to this day.
Journey to five continents and see the world of sustainability and conscious eating with new eyes--featuring 100 pages of plant-based recipes to better nurture ourselves and the planet Thirty years ago, Frances Moore Lappé started a revolution in the way Americans think about food and hunger. Now Frances and her daughter, Anna, pick up where Diet for a Small Planet left off. Together they set out on an around-the-world journey to explore the greatest challenges we face in the new millennium. Traveling to Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, they discovered answers to one of the most urgent issues of our time: whether we can transcend the rampant consumerism and capitalism to find the paths that each of us can follow to heal our lives as well as the planet. Featuring nearly seventy recipes from celebrated vegetarian culinary pioneers-including Alice Waters, Mollie Katzen, Laurel Robertson, Nora Pouillon, and Anna Thomas-Hope's Edge highlights true trailblazers engaged in social, environmental, and economic transformations.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.