"Heartbreaking yet full of hope and beauty, this tells the story of a group of delinquent young men and the institution that houses them."
Hitting with hammer-hard precision, Hope House mines emotions and sets them free. Set in 1980’s Kentucky, 14 year-old AWOL tells the story of a group of teenage boys labelled as delinquents, who have been sentenced to reside in an institution named Hope House.
Debut author Joe Bond writes with a frank openness, there is a brutal beauty to this novel, and I almost felt rather than read the words on the page. There is a simplicity on display that highlights the pain, bravado, and anger as these boys come of age along with themes of identity and belonging.
The impact comes from hearing the story in AWOL’s voice and the complexity of feelings as he recognises behaviour and describes the journey of each of the inhabitants, including Mr Watts who runs the program. I connected with each of them, I felt their emotions, I saw inside them, and was left heartbroken. And yet, hope stitches itself in-between the broken bits, and I dreamt of the future.
A LoveReading Star Book, and Liz Pick of the Month, Hope House is one of those books that breaks your heart even as it mends it. Highly recommended.
Demon Copperhead meets Les Choristes in this tender coming-of-age story, told through the intersecting lives of a group of troubled boys in a home for 'delinquent' young men in the American south in the 1980s.
Demon Copperhead meets Les Choristes in this tender coming-of-age story, told through the intersecting lives of a group of troubled boys in a home for 'delinquent' young men in the American south in the 1980s. LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION 2026 FIRST NOVEL PRIZE *** "I don't know about that, sir.
Hope House features in the following genres: Book Club Recommendations, Liz Robinson's Picks of the Month, Recommendations, Star Books, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Sharing Diverse Voices, Narrative theme: Coming of age, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging, Historical Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Narrative theme: Diversity, equality, inclusion, Narrative theme: Social issues, Narrative theme: Sense of place, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging, Narrative theme: Coming of age
Paperback, Hardback. £15.29, down from the £16.99 cover price. Pre-order. 12th November 2026.
Hope House was written by Joe Bond and published by Fig Tree an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd
Hope House has 302 pages
£15.29, reduced from £16.99. Pre-order. 12th November 2026.
