Hope

My friend Nadia had recommended the book Hope by Lesley Pearse for me to read, telling me that it was an extremely good book. I have to admit that I was skeptical about it being good, and my skepticism had only been further supported when I laid eyes on the book. IT IS MASSIVE. 658 pages long, it looked to be - to quote Georgia from the movie Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, in a different context- beyond the valley of thickness and impossible to be read. But I put my doubt and laziness to one side and opened the book for the first time; I was almost immediately engrossed.

Every page got more and more intriguing and I found it very hard to let go of the book let alone shut it, however tired my eyes were.

Hope is about a child, living proof of her mother, Lady Harvey's adultery. It was her fate to die a stillborn. But soon, Lady Harvey's maid Nell Renton, discovered that the baby was not dead at all. Since it was to be kept a secret from Lady Harvey that the baby, who Nell named Hope, was alive, Nell brought the child back to her Mother, Meg for she knew Meg would provide Hope with love and care. As predicted, Meg took Hope in like one of her own and brought her up as a Renton.

The story goes on to tell how Hope, unaware of her true identity, was brought up in the Renton family, how she was blackmailed to leave her home and never come back and her tough struggles in life. Even as a nurse while there was a terrible cholera epidemic and later on in the battlefields of the Crimea, in such unfavourable conditions, she proved to be a woman with remarkable strength and determination. Showered with heart-warming, heart-breaking, exciting, sometimes gloomy and suspenseful moments, this book is an awesome read that doesn't bore. You feel like you are able to see Hope growing throughout the book and how mature and intelligent she was well before she became an adult.

All in all, Lesley Pearse definitely did not disappoint, and Hope is indubitably a character that I will never forget. A truly wonderful read :) Thanks Nadia.