Book Review - Hope Street by Mike Gayle

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Title: Hope Street

Author: Mike Gayle

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Publication Date: 6th February 2025

Rating: 5 Stars

Lila Metcalfe is a trainee journalist in Derby and she's very used to being given the stories that no one else wants. So, when her editor tells her that the city's Cossington Park development is being held up by a solitary resident on Hope Street who is refusing to leave, she knows she is going to be the one sent to find out more. And that's how she meets Connor.

Twenty-something Connor is the sole resident of Hope Street and he is not at all what Lila is expecting. And he has a very clear reason not to move: he is waiting for his mum to come home.

Wow. I think Mike Gayle may actually be getting even more impressive with each book and I've read almost all of his so I am a massive fan. 

The last quarter of the book I devoured, so completely absorbed by it, that my mum got worried I hadn't responded to her messenger message so 20 mins later decided to ring me to check I was still alive! - I was and was rather annoyed that she had interrupted a key point in the story. 

From the moment we meet Connor, I was intrigued. He just wants to stay in the house he has lived in his whole life, and hope that his mother who disappeared 3 years ago, will come back and can find him in their house.

But the council just needs him out so they can demolish the whole street as part of a new development project. 

Lila, who is a local journalist discovers this and makes it her mission to try to get some answers for Connor.  And in doing so gets to know his best friend Marcus very well too. 

There are many ups and downs in this book but at the heart of it, is a commentary on who society treats someone who is just a bit different.  Connor is a lovely person and doesn't deserve to be treated how he is by many a fair few over the course of the story.  

Thankfully he does have a lot of people on his side too, even if they all think there is no hope of his mother ever returning.  

This is such a heartwarming and tear jerking book. It's an absolute delight to read, and I couldn't get enough of Lila, Connor and Marcus.

Completely and utterly brilliant. 

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.