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The White Rock
The White Rock
Dec 2, 2025 4:58 PM

Author:Anna Hope

The White Rock

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 ...

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

Like a twisted reworking of A Hundred Years of Solitude... readers will no doubt relish its icy intensity and Old Testament grimness.

—— Spectator

Strange, subversive and utterly unique.

—— Grazia

Weird, unsettling and exciting...Moshfegh writes like a dream - or perhaps a nightmare?

—— Eastern Daily Press

[A] strange, disturbingly funny faux-historical novel.

—— Observer, *Books of the Year*

A brazen, mordantly comic and decidedly odd examination of corruption... proving to be one of the most provocative and divisive reads of the year.

—— i, *Summer Reads of 2022*

Brace yourself for a daring, dizzying fable about corruption.

—— Culture Whisper, *Summer Reads of 2022*

A strange, daring book.

—— Lauren O'Neill , Scotland on Sunday

An addictive read... a curious, unjudging journey into humanity's craters.

—— Face

Lapvona is an interrogation of faith, greed, and abuse - yet Moshfegh's dark humour cackles right through it.

—— Independent, *Summer Reads of 2022*

This unsettling read is unlike anything else.

—— Grazia, *Summer Reads of 2022*

[Lapvona] is unlike anything she's [Moshfegh] written before... a rollercoaster ride exploring the themes of poverty, religion and greed.

—— Hello!, *Summer Reads of 2022*

Moshfegh's novel is bitterly comic, compelling reading, ever-pulsing with perversity.

—— Big Issue

[A] wry, bewitching and slightly dark novel.

—— Monocle, *Christmas Gift Guide 2022*

Moshfegh is one of the most original and astute young novelists working today.

—— Daily Telegraph

The superabundantly talented...Moshfegh's sentences are piercing and vixenish... she is always a deep pleasure to read.

—— New York Times (on MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION)

Funny... Unforgettable... Batuman is particularly good on sex and sexual politics... The star feature is the narration... garrulous, rambunctious... full of baroque riffs and digressions.

—— Claire Lowdown , Spectator

A fresh voice is a rare thing, and Elif Batuman is one such.

—— Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*

Either/Or is extremely funny and delightfully ludic, as it probes the very act of reading from the point of view of confused university student Selin.

—— Anakana Schofield, Irish Times, Books of the Year 2022

I was desperately looking forward to Elif Batuman's Either/Or, and it more than lived up to it.

—— Samir Chadha , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Re-encountering Selin...felt like being reunited with an old friend.

—— Helen Charman , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Hilarious.

—— Alice Hattrick , White Review, *Books of the Year*

I greatly enjoyed the comic zing of Elif Batuman's delightful Either/Or

—— Megan Hunter , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Witty, intelligent and funny... [Selin's] inner monologue is addictive enough to read a thousand more pages of, and I can only cross my fingers that this isn't the last instalment of the series.

—— Crack

Just as funny and self-aware and clever as The Idiot.

—— Jessica Zhan Mei Yu , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Funny, wry and insightful

—— The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*

Laugh out loud…hilarious and thoughtful

—— Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*
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