A Great Hope falls neatly into the ‘not quite’ bracket. It is not quite a whodunnit, a family saga, a story of passionate romance, or a political thriller. But it does have elements of all those genres, and utterly flawed characters who keep the reader fascinated.
John Clare is gruesomely dead when the novel opens. We get a tiny glimpse of his death, falling from the roof of his house, but did he jump, or was he pushed? John was a big noise in the union movement and had recently failed in a bid for parliament. He had an elegant wife, Grace, and two troubled children, Sophie and Toby. He also had a mistress, Tessa, whose existence had been a secret.
Stanley is well placed to write about Australian unionism and politics in the first decade of the 2000s. She joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ campaign, Your Rights at Work, against industrial relations reforms introduced by the Howard Government. She was Labor’s social media consultant for the 2007 election and worked on Anna Bligh’s 2008 election campaign. Her portrayal of John’s life leading a major union, Tessa’s roles working with the ACTU, and big business has a chilling authenticity.
Centre stage, a year after John Clare’s death, is his highly disturbed daughter; his emotionally stunted widow; a conflicted former mistress; and a seriously strange teenage neighbour, who really longs to be part of their family. Throw into the mix his son’s problems and John’s own retrospective shortcomings and, like a train wreck, it’s hard to look away.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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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