The White Rock
From the bestselling author of The Ballroom
by Anna Hope
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date 25 Aug 2022 | Archive Date 25 Aug 2022
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Description
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE BALLROOM AND EXPECTATION
'Poetic, philosophical and wildly captivating... I swam in this book and didn't want to come up for air' Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals and Adults
___________________
They are separating, she and her husband, after two decades together.
This fact is new.
Only really a fact for a few weeks or so. Before that it was a possibility - one potential outcome among many. But now it appears to be, unequivocally, the case.
There are many ways of telling the tale ...
There are many different sides to every story ...
The White Rock stands, ancient and sacred, off the Pacific coast of Mexico. Four people, across four centuries, each navigating ruptures to the world they know, are irresistibly drawn to it.
A British writer travels in 2020 with her husband and young daughter to give thanks for the birth of their child. She looks to the White Rock for answers, even as her faith in her marriage, and the future itself, is unravelling.
An American rock star in 1969 is in the final act of his self-destruction. On the run from the law, from his rabid fans and an America burning with the fever of the Vietnam War, he washes up at the edge of Mexico, hoping to lose, or maybe find himself.
A Yoeme girl is torn from her homeland at the turn of the twentieth century and taken by force to the coast. As her future is recast in the name of progress and power, she turns to the stories of her people, to resist, and to survive.
And in 1775 a young Spanish naval officer, preparing to set sail from the White Rock to continue the conquest of the Pacific coast, appears to lose his grip on reality, with far-reaching and fatal consequences.
And as they each find themselves at the end of the story they have lived by, their tales echo, breathtakingly, through time . . .
___________________
'So bold and wild, but controlled and fierce. It reminded me of Cloud Atlas, but it's very much itself. Stunning' Russell T. Davies, writer of It's A Sin
'Absolutely a story for our times, and a fiercely important one, too' Clover Stroud, author of The Red of my Blood
'I loved it . . . 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
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780241562765 |
| PRICE | £14.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 320 |
Featured Reviews
Aria H, Reviewer
I really enjoyed this book that was set over mutliple decades. It was well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters that I bacme really invested in. I couldn't put it down.
ERIN K, Reviewer
I don't think there's a more versatile author than Anna Hope writing today. The White Rock showcases the compassion and care for language I've loved in her other books but this is more ambitious in scale and unsettling than her previous books. It's not always a comfortable read but it's a powerful and necessary one.
Nicole C, Reviewer
This novel follows four stories linked by the white rock in Mexico, a natural phenomenon. The Piedra Blanca is a sacred site and is thought to be the first solid object on earth. Therefore, it is believed that the rock is the origin of all life, and there are annual pilgrimages to worship the stone.
The first story follows a woman, her young daughter, and her soon-to-be ex-husband who join a pilgrimage and travel to the rock during the beginning of the pandemic of 2020 to celebrate the young girl's life.
The second story follows a girl and her injured sister on a slave ship in 1907 that passes by the white rock on their way to a labor camp.
The third story follows a hard-partying rockstar in 1969 staying at a hotel near the white rock.
The fourth story follows the story of a Spanish Navy Lieutenant in 1775 and his team, who are tasked with setting sail from the white rock to create maps of the new world.
I read and enjoyed Expectation, but I thought this novel even better - and very different. Hope makes reading feel effortless, and I mean that in the best possible way. I enjoyed how all of the stories were connected to this sacred place and the exploration of themes of crisis, sacrifice, redemption, hope, new beginnings, and the end of the world.
I could have done without the Lieutenant's story altogether and would have liked to learn more about the story of the two sisters. I also would have appreciated a bit more history and translation. I found myself looking up quite a few terms, such as Yoeme (now I know they are native peoples of the Sonoran desert) and juntas (a military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force).
Sarah O, Reviewer
I was drawn this book by the synopsis and it didn't let me down, The premise is so magnetic and I love how it's set over different time periods. A real compelling well written story
Gillian F, Reviewer
I was deeply moved by this book. Each generation drawn inexplicably to the calling of the White Rock.
Each story was very different but of their time. We have travelled back to the ‘Vietnam War in the 60s, and also to another century completely. We have visited the start of both the 20th and 21st centuries. Each story was fresh and new but all ultimately linked by the White Rock.
This book was refreshingly different and I loved it.
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