The Hope concludes Canadian author Paul E Hardisty’s The Forcing trilogy of speculative eco-thrillers and as such follows on from the The Forcing and The Descent, which we’ve reviewed here on Crime Fiction Lover. In this new, dystopian episode he introduces a third generation of characters facing a world devastated by the climate crisis paralleled and vast societal inequalities.
We are in Hobart, Tasmania and the year is 2082. The Hope can be read as a standalone, however you will get a much deeper understanding of the many challenges faced by Teacher Ashworth’s family if you read the first two books. Hardisty brings in some events from the previous stories by including chapters from a book about Lachie Ashworth. He is Teacher’s son and a former president of the United States and Canada. The author of the book with the book is Kweku Abachwa, Lachie’s step brother. Kweku also narrates some sections of The Hope.
Becky Ashworth, a teenager known as Boo to her friends and family, is the main narrator. She lives with her Aunt Julie, Uncle Kweku and Boy, a young slave who was rescued by Julie. At one time her cousin Leo lived with them but he and Kweku had a difference of opinions that resulted with Leo leaving. The family moved to Hobart a couple of years prior because of Julie’s failing health hoping she could receive treatment at the hospital located in the private compound of the Eminence, Valliant Junior. It is the only hospital in the region.
A member of the elite Alpha Omega group, Valliant is a descendent of one of the billionaires responsible for the climate catastrophe. The Eminence lives a sheltered life in a luxurious compound with private guards and technology to protect him. Raphael, a friend of the Ashworth family, is one of the few people to ever have escaped from the palace. He now lives with them in an old, abandoned house with no electricity or technology. It’s a far cry from being in the compound. Boo spends much of her day tending the family garden and caring for Julie. For safety reasons, she doesn’t leave the property alone.
The family scavenge what they need from other abandoned houses. In one place, they found some books which they brought home with them to begin a library. Keeping them was a huge risk as books are now banned. Kweku designed and built a secret library hidden within the layout of the house to protect the books for future generations.
In some ways, The Hope is a love letter to books and the joy of reading. There are many references to books and authors you will recognise. Books can educate us, entertain us and help us develop empathy and an understanding of others. Sadly, these are not qualities valued in Hobart. The powerful Alpha Omegas prefer to keep the general population uneducated so they are easier to control.
However, Valliant’s men storm the house one night and burn the books. Fortunately, Kweku had built a hidden hatch in the attic should they ever come under attack. Boo escapes alone over the rooftops. Often a greedy corporation is the antagonist in an eco-thriller, but here Boo is pitted against an Alpha Omega.
Valliant’s men may have destroyed the physical books, however they remain in Boo’s memory. She has an amazing ability to memorise whatever she reads. As she had been reading Kweku’s book about Lachie Ashworth on the sly, she also has a better understanding of what happened in the past. Will her knowledge and memories of all that she has read help Boo to save her family? Much of the tension in the book comes from her trying to evade and foil Valliant’s protectors.
The earlier books in the trilogy are grounded in reality with plot lines that could have come from contemporary news stories. Hardisty used his expertise as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist to create vivid believable images of humanity’s destruction of the environment. The Hope, which is set 56 years into the future, provides an opportunity for Hardisty to be creative with his imagination. Here, some of the plot lines require the suspension of disbelief.
When doom scrolling about recent events in North America became too much in the last week, I found myself reaching for The Hope. In spite of sad or violent plot points in the book, the underlying message of the book gave me a sense of optimism. When human beings work together, we have the ability to turn things around for the better at any point.
Also see We Bring You an Hour of Darkness by Michael Bourne and How to Surf a Hurricane by Todd Medema.
Orenda Books
Print/Kindle
£6.49
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
