I’m not familiar with the work of Anna Hope, but I rather enjoyed Albion. It has a small cast of characters and a time span of some five days when a family gathers at the home estate following the death of the father. Needless to say, at such an emotional time, tensions are naturally high and bit by bit, the dysfunctional nature of the relationships becomes all too apparent. Things are compounded when Ankara arrives from America and tightly drawn threads start to unravel. This is a a very introspective take, quite claustrophobic and not a lot of action. But the strength lies in the sharply observed characters. None particularly likeable, particularly given their privilege and for some, sense of entitlement. But Anna Hope explores some interesting themes around class, colonialism, heredity and the eco system. None of this is in your face and overall this is a fascinating state if the nation study. It’s not a class that the majority of readers will be familiar with, but it reflects the anxieties and history of many of the better connected. I enjoyed this slow tale that reveals great depths from early shallows. Enjoyed it eno.

Albion By Anna Hope I love when a novel permanently alters the way I think about a subject. This is quite an unusual story in that I'd be hard pressed to decide if it's character driven or plot driven. In a way it's neither. The characters are all related through family, friendship or marriage to Philip Brooke, a descendant of the landed gentry, but despite each person's perspective being explored, we actually learn very little about them individually. The novel takes place over the course of 5 days around Philip's funeral, but it's not propulsively plotty. It's a slow burn with revelations that really made me think about the concept of legacy. What this book does is ask questions about where inherited wealth comes from. It looks at how the responsibility of stewardship of land throws up many challenges, and it reflects on the many people and communities on who's backs all this wealth and ownership was obtained. The main character is the estate that the Brookes have called home for seven generations. Set in Sussex it is it's relationship to each character that defines them, and creates the backdrop to their family dynamics. A family saga, with a bohemian undercurrent and a message that reparations are due, that one can't assume inheritance without accepting the blame for the original theft. Thoughtful, atmospheric and highly astute. Publication Date 1st May 2025 Thanks to #Netgalley and #penguingeneralUK for providing an eGalley for review purposes

This is a brilliant book that skewers the hypocrisy of Liberals who think they're on the right side of everything. Frannie has inherited her father's estate, and has a grand plan to rewild it, but she's just as wedded to the ruling class way of doing things, and just as committed to hiding the source of her family's ill-gotten wealth. Her siblings are selfish and venal, but no one is innocent. Anna Hope has written a brilliantly moreish story about how hippies in the 1960's betrayed all their values and about how toxic families can be when money is involved.

Albion unfolds over five days as the Brooke family gathers at their 18th-century ancestral home to bury their father, Philip, a one-time hippy and erstwhile philanderer. Frannie, the eldest daughter has inherited the estate, and dreams of returning it to nature as a last line of defence against the coming climate catastrophe. Milo, her brother, envisions a treetop haven for the wealthy delivering psychedelic drug treatments. Each believes their father has given them his blessing and are set on a collision course. Grace, Philip’s widow, who has been in a loveless marriage for 50 years, wonders if she can now finally choose freedom over duty, whilst her third child, Isabelle, only hopes to seek out her childhood love — still living on the estate — to discover whether it is her feelings for him that are creating the fault lines in her marriage. And then, Clara arrives from America with secrets that will shatter the family's dreams... I love Anna Hope's writing and in Albion she has delivered a truly engrossing, character-focused story that portrays a landed family's complex and multilayered dynamic, set against wider global issues. I was completely hooked in from the very beginning and loved the way Anna Hope develops the characters, shifting our sympathies as perspectives change and events unfold. We may not always like the members of this dysfunctional family, or agree with their actions and beliefs, but they are all drawn with such conviction, empathy and sympathy, that we really do come to care about what happens to them. Characterisation is a huge strength of this tremendous novel, as is Anna Hope's ability to vividly depict the natural landscape and describe it in such beautiful, lyrical, yet unsentimental prose. The wildlife and natural world of the estate is so perfectly rendered that you see it in your head as you're reading, you hear the birds singing and the water splashing, you feel the dew-wet grass, and you smell the woodsmoke and the leaf mold. This beautiful tract of countryside is just as important within the novel as the family that own it. Inheritance and legacy are important themes in this novel. Fannie and Milo have clashing views about the direction of the estate now their father is dead, and as young as Rowan is, she's already beginning to get a sense of the legacy that will one day fall to her. But inheritance of the actual land itself is only one aspect, and the author sets up a fascinating parallel as the novel unfolds: as well as the land, Frannie inherits the consequences caused by the ethics of past generations, which endanger the estate's future despite her best intentions to protect it and ensure its survival. The novel also explores themes of responsibility, accountability and freedom; inherited wealth, class and privilege; climate change and rewilding; colonialism and intergenerational trauma; and love - romantic, familial, and for nature . Yes, there is much to unpack and think about here, and yet it's all bound together in a highly readable, beautifully written, absorbing, propulsive and nuanced country house story. It manages to be both a satisfying and thought-provoking solo read and the perfect buddy-read/book club read. It will stay in my head for a long time to come and is definitely going to be one of my best books of 2025. Brilliant stuff. Highly recommended. Thank you to Penguin Fig Tree for my AD-GIFTED proof. This is my honest review.

Grace and Philip Brooke inherited the eighteenth century family home and thousand acre estate and brought up their three children in the countryside = though in reality Grace did most of the parenting as Philip, a philanderer, took himself off to the USA and settled down with another woman for numerous years. He finally returned to Sussex where he eventually dies, leaving the burden of the estate to his eldest daughter, Frannie. She is very conscious of climate change and wants to do her best to re-wild as much of the land as possible, and take on eco projects, but her siblings, Milo and Isa are sceptical and Milo, in particular, has other grand ideas. As the day of Phiip’s funeral approaches Isa drops a bombshell and tells Frannie that she has located the girl that she thinks was born of her husband’s Americam relationship, and has invited her t attend the funeral. Will her arrival cause more family friction and further problems? An amazing read, bringing past and present problems together.