My grateful thanks to Alainna Georgiou at Hodder for sending me a very welcome surprise copy of Hope Street by Mike Gayle. I’m delighted to share my review of Hope Street today.
I love Mike Gayle’s writing and you’ll find my review of Mike’s The Museum of Ordinary People here and of A Song of You and Me here.
Hope Street was published by Hodder and Stoughton on 6th February 2025 and is available for purchase through the publisher links here.
Hope Street
The greatest adventure is coming back home.
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.
The uplifting and heartfelt new novel from the author of A Song of Me and You.
My Review of Hope Street
Local journalist Lila Metcalfe has a new story to follow up.
Hope Street is simply fabulous. Through this sensitive, heart-felt, narrative about Connor and his missing mother, Mike Gayle provides a deep and emotional insight into all aspects of community. His skill at showing real life for real people in challenging circumstances is outstanding. This is a story that engenders a wide range of emotion from fury to joy because the reader is so invested in Connor’s life.
The premise of enforced development and compulsory purchase that affects individuals feels pertinent and realistic. The gradual erosion of the Hope Street community as residents are persuaded out of their homes is something that could happen to any one of us and I found my anger at Connor’s treatment both frustrating and enraging. Hope Street is a story that truly impacts the reader.
The characters are wonderful. Connor’s mum Bernie might have been missing for three years, providing an added layer of mystery, but she drives the narrative. This feels glorious because what we discover about her shows a strong, independent woman who has survived her struggles through her courage and love. Lila too, is depicted with absolute clarity and her strand of the story is every bit as engaging as Connor’s. I loved the romantic element of her story too. As Connor and Lila both deliver first person accounts, Hope Street feels intimate and compelling. These people resonate with the reader. Mike Gayle ensures we know them thoroughly and he makes us care about them completely. What I think works so brilliantly is the intensity of a smallish cast, but the breadth of character. There’s a hugely satisfying balance of good and bad people, of male and female characters and of the flaws and perfections they display. This story could realistically occur in any of our communities so that the reader is invested in the outcomes even without the emotional and heart-breaking reasons Connor has to want to remain in Hope Street.
Equally varied and impactful are the themes. There’s not only the range of relationships from work colleagues to lovers, or families to friends, but there’s insight into those who are socially different like Connor, with the responses from loyalty to betrayal, protection to exploitation that such individuals inspire in others. Concepts such as trust and belief, true friendship and grief, loss and belonging all meld into the most captivating narrative. There were several moments when Mike Gayle brought a tear to my eye and I ended the book feeling I had read something very special.
Through this lovely narrative Mike Gayle shows us, quite beautifully, that we all need to live on our own metaphorical Hope Street in order to thrive. I loved this story and cannot recommend it highly enough.
About Mike Gayle
Mike Gayle was born and raised in Birmingham. After graduating from Salford University with a degree in Sociology, he moved to London to pursue a career in journalism and worked as a features editor and agony uncle. He has written for a variety of publications including The Sunday Times, the Guardian and Cosmopolitan. Mike became a full-time novelist in 1997 following the publication of his Sunday Times top ten bestseller My Legendary Girlfriend, which was hailed by the Independent as ‘full of belly laughs and painfully acute observations’, and by The Times as ‘a funny, frank account of a hopeless romantic’. Since then he has written sixteen novels, including The Man I Think I Know, selected as a World Book Night title, and Half A World Away, selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages. In 2021, Mike was the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
For more information, find Mike on Instagram or Facebook, visit his website or follow him on Twitter/X @mikegayle.
