John Clare was a titan in Australian politics. The head of a powerful union and a key player in the election of Kevin Rudd as prime minister in 2007, he had long been tipped as a future leader himself. Supporting him in his push for power were his elegant wife Grace, his troubled children Sophie and Toby, and Tessa, the mistress he thought would stay secret. But now John has fallen, brutally, to his death. A terrible accident - or was it?
In the wake of losing John, his inner circle mourn and rage, remembering and trying to forget the many ways he'd loved and disappointed them. An adoring and unreliable father; a grateful and selfish husband; a besotted and absent lover; an authoritative and compassionate leader; a failed politician in an era when party politics failed a nation. As those around him reassess everything they knew of and felt for John, a new idea of what love and power really mean begins to emerge - as does the true cause of his death.
Gripping, propulsive and ambitious, A Great Hope untangles the mystery of John's fall through the eyes of those who knew him best - or thought they did. Deftly displaying the clash of the political and the personal, this is a novel for our times, from a brilliant and forceful new Australian writer.
Praise for A Great Hope.
'Just pages into this book, I felt the electric jolt that accompanies the discovery of a serious new talent. A Great Hope is a genuine literary page-turner that satisfies until the last paragraph' — Annabel Crabb
‘Stanley immerses the reader in the turbulent world of backroom politics, but it’s the acutely observed intersection between the political and the personal that raises the dramatic stakes. A Great Hope is melodrama set within deeper social currents, in the same vein as Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap. It’s a taut examination of a well-off family under great pressure, with the mystery unspooling neatly through complexity of character' — Sydney Morning Herald (Fiction Pick of the Week)
‘This is a pacey and engaging book, that is gripping from the first pages... What starts as a narrative about a great man in politics is revealed to be a meditation on deeper themes of gender, motherhood, politics, ethics, and trying to find an identity as a young person in the shadow of your father's great career. While these themes might sound heavy, the writing is wry and funny, with the right balance of pathos and gravitas to stay entertaining without being superficial.’ — The Canberra Times
‘[T]hrilling... Ambitious... in short, the novel is never boring’ — Australian Book Review
‘[A] fascinating and insightful journey through these women’s lives’ — Herald Sun
'A Great Hope is written in an addictive prose that keeps the reader firmly in its grip' — Books+Publishing
‘Stanley cleverly walks the line between showing her readers the genuinely awful things each of them says and does while also, often quite against the odds, rendering them sympathetic in their individual complexity and nuance’ — The West Australian
‘Every so often a novel comes along with a magic, broad appeal; an inevitable conversation starter. Jessica Stanley’s A Great Hope is that kind of magic novel; a literary, multi-generational family saga that’s ambitious, smart and wholly engaging. Here is a book that wields a page-turning plot and gripping, complicated characters. You’ll gulp down all 400 pages, then push it fervently into the hands of everyone you know’ — Readings
‘…brilliant on family dynamics, this is the story of sex and betrayal in the lead-up to an Australian election. Thrilling’ — Eva Wiseman, Observer Magazine
‘I am so full of feelings about this beautiful, beautiful novel... I took a while to start it, because — Australian politics? But it's not really about that. It's about love and people and family... I never imagine books in my head, that's not how I read — and yet I see everything in this novel so clearly like it's the absolute truth. I lived in it. I loved it. It’s like a woman-centred The Line of Beauty but funnier and Australian’ — Ella Risbridger
Recommended on Chat10Looks3, See Also, Bang On with Myf Warhurst and Zan Rowe, and Highly Enthused.
Longlisted for Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award 2022.
Shortlisted for the MUD Literary Prize 2023.
Read A Great Hope.
A Great Hope is out now from Picador Australia.
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Readers outside Australia. Order from Readings.
Book clubs.
Macmillan has produced a detailed discussion guide for book clubs.
Warning: contains spoilers!
Jessica Stanley was born in regional Victoria and grew up in Canberra and Melbourne. She worked in journalism and politics before moving to London in 2011.
A Great Hope is her debut novel.
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