FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE BALLROOM AND EXPECTATION

They are separating, she and her husband, after two decades together.
This fact is new.
There are many ways of telling the tale ...
There are many different sides to every story ...

A minibus journeys through rural Mexico. Inside it are twelve strangers on a pilgrimage to the White Rock, which stands, ancient and sacred, off the Pacific coast. Like many before them, over centuries and from across continents, they find themselves irresistibly drawn here, for answers, to give thanks, to seek protection.

One of them is a writer. She is travelling with her husband and young daughter, as her faith in her marriage, and the future itself, is foundering. She has come to the White Rock in the hope of excavating a beginning from the rubble of many different endings.

Here she will find the echoes of many stories: of conquest and resistance, of betrayal and belief, of the many different forms of violence and love. Stories that have already unravelled, and stories that might yet illuminate a passage through these uncertain times ...

'An eco-novel you actually want to read' The Times

'Its narrative sweep is capacious . . . It has ambition to match, musing on freedom and reciprocity [and] the redemptive power of storytelling. Impressive' Observer

'Deeply moving' The i

About the Author
ANNA HOPE is the internationally prizewinning and bestselling author of Wake, The Ballroom and Expectation. She lives in Sussex with her family.

Reviews
Precise and perceptive ... Deeply satisfying ... We may struggle to find hope, Hope tells us, but it is there in the landscape, in faith and memory and ritual, in the ancient unchanging silences that persist' * Guardian *
An eco-novel you actually want to read ... She's an assured author with a knack for an arresting image ... It leaves you with a gentle sense that things keep going * The Times *
Its narrative sweep is capacious ... It has ambition to match, musing on freedom and reciprocity, on the redemptive power of storytelling and the sustaining force of ritual ... Demonstrating impressive stylistic verve * Observer *
Mesmerising ... Imaginative ... Among its many impressive elements is Hope's handling of the past ... Her greatest talent is in getting under the skin of her characters ... There is a subtle plangency in this powerful portrait of human folly and ferocity * The Herald *
Deeply moving ... I, for one, hope we hear plenty more from her * i news *
Full of wisdom about the blink-and-you'll-miss-it nature of our lives * Good Housekeeping *
Lyrical and timely * Stella *
Mysterious and beautiful. It reminded me of Cloud Atlas, but it's very much itself: so bold and wild, but controlled and fierce. It's stunning writing and it has left me with hope, that we can tell stories like these even as the carbon builds, and that imagination and ideas remain powerful and valid * Russell T. Davies, writer of It's A Sin *
Perfectly crafted, evocative prose which effortlessly transported me through two hundred and fifty years of history * Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground *
Brilliant. A stunning book of extraordinary, audacious scale * Sadie Jones, author of The Snakes *
Poetic, philosophical and wildly captivating... Anna Hope captures the human condition and feeds it treats while you watch it shimmer. Her characters dance, crawl and blast off the page, like mystical beings who are at the same time solidly human. I swam in this book and didn't want to come up for air * Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals and Adults *
I loved it. I became invested in each of the different eras and was struck by the sense of unknowable forces outliving us all. It is full of wisdom, intricate and emotional, and it will linger in my head for a long time * Dave Haslam, author of Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor *
Anna Hope is such a generous and sensitive writer, and The White Rock is full of extraordinary voices and ideas. Absolutely a story for our times, and a fiercely important one, too * Clover Stroud, author of The Red of my Blood *
I loved the sparseness, the moments of poetry, the quiet brutality. The voice throughout is fierce and graceful and utterly compelling; each central character is rich and beautifully pinpointed. It is her strongest work yet * Melody Razak, author of Moth *
The White Rock is a sublime, poetic, and visionary work of art * Ron Rash, author of In the Valley *



Book Information
ISBN 9780241995495
Author Anna Hope
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 213g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 18mm