The White Rock was my first book by Anna Hope. I liked the writing which flowed well and was quite lyrical in places but I am unsure about the book as a whole. The beginning part, The Author, dragged and I was tempted to give up but the tempo and my interest picked up when we moved on to to The Singer and then 1907 and then onto the Lieutenant. Obviously very well researched and I appreciated the bibliography at the end of the book for further research. But as a whole I don't think the book works. OK, the focus of each segment is the white rock, and the various stories are interesting as far as they go, but for me they just didn't coalesce to form a cohesive book. It would have been better, in my opinion, as a series of connected short stories.
With thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read and review a e-ARC of this title.

I didn’t gel with this book at all, but can’t quite put my finger on why. Not great for a book review, I know. It could have been the mention of Covid in the 2020/modern day sections, or the fact that there were a couple of historical sections (I inexplicably hate history). I don’t know exactly who or what these stories were for..? I enjoyed the Singer sections, but maybe that’s because I’ve just finished Taylor Jenkins Reid’s ‘Carrie Soto is Back’ and have been reminded of Mick Riva and his children? Who knows. This book wasn’t for me, but if you enjoy short stories which are all supposed to be tenuously linked by a search for ~the rock~ then perhaps you’ll have a better time than I did.

This novel follows four stories linked by the white rock in Mexico. Thanks to the authors warmth, wisdom and emotional intelligence, this book was a huge pleasure to read!

This book represents an ambitious literary project as it tries to bring together four intimate life stories centred around the White Rock, a sacred site in San Blas, Mexico. One strand is contemporary and features a writer at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. A second strand commences in 1969 and introduces a singer who appears to be a thinly disguised Jim Morrison. The third strand presents a young indigenous Yoeme girl sold into slavery whose voice is particularly strong and compelling. The fourth and final strand starts in 1775 and focuses on a Spanish naval officer. Initially I attempted to link up these four strands – and found that I failed. Once I had made the decision to enjoy each narrative separately, and to admire the author’s tremendous amount of historical research, I fared better with the novel as a whole. I can already see that this is a novel that I will read several times, with fresh insights to be drawn from every reading. I would like to thank NetGalley as well as the publishers for the free ARC that allowed me to produce this honest and unbiased review.

I was deeply moved by this book. Each generation drawn inexplicably to the calling of the White Rock.
Each story was very different but of their time. We have travelled back to the ‘Vietnam War in the 60s, and also to another century completely. We have visited the start of both the 20th and 21st centuries. Each story was fresh and new but all ultimately linked by the White Rock.
This book was refreshingly different and I loved it.

Firstly thank you to NetGalley and PenguinUK for this preview copy of The White Rock in exchange for an honest review!

I am a little undecided with how I feel about this one. I really did like the structure of the novel, the way the four different lives extended into the past, stopped at the white rock, and then came back into the future again. I also liked that the stories all had a theme of that feeling of escape, either literally or figuratively.

The ‘writers’ story was so incredibly contemporary and summed up that anxiety we all felt in 2020 so well. The ‘singer’ and the ‘girl’ were both beautifully written, however for some reason the context was put at the back of the book rather than the front, so I did feel quite distant from the narrative until that came along. The Lieutenant was by far my least favourite of the four and was a bit more of a slog to get through.

All in all, it was a really well written and well crafted book with a fantastic concept. It would have been 4 stars if I read it with the context in mind, and I imagine I would give it 4* on a subsequent re-read.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Overall this was an enjoyable read with some interesting stories told from different characters in different times, all connected by their journey to the White Rock. I wanted to really love this book but unfortunately I didn’t click with it like I wanted to.
It is well written and the premise is excellent but perhaps better suited to fans of short stories.

This novel follows four stories linked by the white rock in Mexico. a unique way of telling a story based around a geographical monument. Some stories are more interesting than others but all in all, a fresh way of writing stories where many people are interlinked.

'The White Rock' is a series of linked short stories, all centred around the title landmark (which is real). Each story is split into two. The first half of each story is revealed in reverse chronological order, then the second halves are told chronologically, giving a pleasing parabolic structure to the novel. All of the stories are readable and easy to engage with, despite their variety, always a sign that a someone is a good writer.

The most modern story is set in 2020 - a writer is travelling on a pilgrimage together with her (soon to be ex) husband and young daughter. The pandemic is looming in the form of texts from family members urging her to travel home. Then we got back to 1969, when a dissolute rock singer is hiding from the responsibilities of real life at the resort, whilst consuming as many mind-altering substances as he can get his hands on. Although the singer isn't named, he appears to be 'the Doors' frontman Jim Morrison, and the author acknowledgements reference many books about the singer.

In complete contrast, the next oldest tale is that of a Yoeme native American girl, being forcibly taken from her home and sold into slavery on the plantations of the Yucatan. She passes the rock on a slave ship and is taken into the town, along with her sister - who is injured - to face a grim future. The last of the stories is also a ship-based tale, but from the perspective of a Spanish conquistador in the 18th century. The unnamed lieutenant is about to begin an exciting voyage to map the north Pacific coast - but is concerned about the behaviour of one of the other senior sailors.

These four very different stories each play out, all somehow connected to the rock - which was considered sacred by the local people and native American tribes. I liked the oldest two stories the most as I felt they were the most interesting. The perspective and character of the lieutenant were intriguing as he's the type of character who is usually the enemy in someone else's story. And the story about the Yoeme girl taught me about the suffering of these people - another crime against humanity which I'd not been aware of.

The rock star story I found boring and overlong - I disliked the character (and I disliked the fact he was a real person - I don't like authors inserting real people from recent history into stories in a big role). I didn't care how many drugs he took or how much he drank or what happened to him when he did. Being drunk and high are one of those phenomena it is much more enjoyable to experience first hand than to witness or read about. I also found the writer character in the 2020 story irritating - she seemed a typical middle class white person trying to have a 'meaningful' experience through someone else's exploited culture before jetting back to her comfortable UK lifestyle. In fact the contrast between the singer and writer, and the Yoeme girl and even the Spanish sailor was quite grating - probably intentionally so.

It's a difficult book to sum up to end my review, as it was such a mix of tales. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes, and more than I might have expected, being a reader who is less keen on this style of short-story collection/novel type arrangements. I found it quite compelling, and splitting the stories into two halves was definitely a good technique (reminded me of David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas'). It got round the usual problem with short stories of being less compelling due to the plot keep ending. It's a book that had a certain 'something' that I can't quite put my finger on, but somehow elevates it in my mind to a four star read. If you are a reader who likes short stories, or has an interest in Mexican history, or the band the Doors, I would definitely highly recommend it. If you aren't, you might still enjoy it as a well written piece of fiction.

I found it hard to get into this book and although it is very well-written it is also confusing at times. There are four interconnecting stories set in different time periods with The White Rock of the title a feature of each. It was an interesting read but I struggled to finish.

An epic tale encompassing four stories centring around Mexico's White Rock. Ambitious in nature, it has an interesting premise and I loved how the tales linked together. I liked the writing style and the themes that ran through each story were compelling and well presented, however I would have preferred a more conclusive ending to each of the stories. Overall a good read.

Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin General UK for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely adored Expectation so I jumped at the chance to get my hands on Hope’s new novel.

I’m sad to say that I didn’t really get this one. Whilst I enjoyed the structure (the three perspectives are akin to concentric circles emanating out from the rock throughout time – it reminds me somewhat of Frankenstein’s almost Russian nesting doll structure) I don’t understand exactly how the three strands are meant to coalesce. The white rock itself is a hazy touchstone, especially because the thematic links between the three stories are tenuous. Whilst the Mexican mythology and history (particularly that of the Yoeme) is interesting, I feel that this should have been foregrounded at the onset of the novel, just to situate and orientate the reader.

The writing is, as always, sensitive and well-observed, but I felt a complete disconnect with the characters and their narratives in a way that I haven’t with Hope’s other novels. The novel is intrinsically unsatisfying; it feels rather half-baked.

Nevertheless, an enjoyable read – I eagerly anticipate something further from Hope.

I was drawn this book by the synopsis and it didn't let me down, The premise is so magnetic and I love how it's set over different time periods. A real compelling well written story

This was such a good book. I love historical fiction, especially when it is about eras/ situations that I previously knew nothing about and this was definitely one of those books. It was so well researched and so compelling in its narrative that not only did I love reading it but I felt that I learned too. A really enjoyable read and perfect for any fans of historical fiction. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

i loved loved loved expectations by anna hope and this was something completely different. the start takes you back to the beginning of covid, and then unwinds from there, back to the 70s and then the turn of the century. i liked the writing, although it was a bit vague at tmes and i got lost a few times.

I don't think there's a more versatile author than Anna Hope writing today. The White Rock showcases the compassion and care for language I've loved in her other books but this is more ambitious in scale and unsettling than her previous books. It's not always a comfortable read but it's a powerful and necessary one.

This novel follows four stories linked by the white rock in Mexico, a natural phenomenon. The Piedra Blanca is a sacred site and is thought to be the first solid object on earth. Therefore, it is believed that the rock is the origin of all life, and there are annual pilgrimages to worship the stone.

The first story follows a woman, her young daughter, and her soon-to-be ex-husband who join a pilgrimage and travel to the rock during the beginning of the pandemic of 2020 to celebrate the young girl's life.

The second story follows a girl and her injured sister on a slave ship in 1907 that passes by the white rock on their way to a labor camp.

The third story follows a hard-partying rockstar in 1969 staying at a hotel near the white rock.

The fourth story follows the story of a Spanish Navy Lieutenant in 1775 and his team, who are tasked with setting sail from the white rock to create maps of the new world.

I read and enjoyed Expectation, but I thought this novel even better - and very different. Hope makes reading feel effortless, and I mean that in the best possible way. I enjoyed how all of the stories were connected to this sacred place and the exploration of themes of crisis, sacrifice, redemption, hope, new beginnings, and the end of the world.

I could have done without the Lieutenant's story altogether and would have liked to learn more about the story of the two sisters. I also would have appreciated a bit more history and translation. I found myself looking up quite a few terms, such as Yoeme (now I know they are native peoples of the Sonoran desert) and juntas (a military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force).

Four stories spanning three hundred years are set around the White Rock, a sacred Wixarika site off the coast of Nayarit in Mexico. The contemporary narrative focuses on a ‘writer’ who recognises that she is part of the exploitation that these people and this area has suffered over the centuries as she ‘take[s] the raw matter of history, the pain and the trouble and the incalculable loss – to shape it into story, the hope of profit.’
Anna Hope has clearly carried out a lot of research before writing ‘The White Rock’ and it was interesting to learn something of the struggles of the Yoeme people and their beliefs. The story focusing on the Yoeme girls is the strongest of the four and the idea that ‘their most holy places are hiding in plain sight’ as part of the natural world chimes with the present-day focus on the significance of the environment.
However, whilst Hope’s prose is always elegant and her ideas thought-provoking, unusually ‘The White Rock’ is not a particularly satisfying read. There are some tenuous thematic links between the four tales – betrayal and suffering to name two. Nevertheless, overall, the novel feels as if it is more a vehicle for Hope’s research than an exploration of human nature over time.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK – Fig Tree for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Four interlinking stories make up this interesting and thought-provoking novel, which touches on themes of sacrifice, redemption, climate change and even Covid-19. The White Rock is sacred and part of indigenous legends which tell us that it was the first solid object in the world. Anna Hope writes beautifully and this is an intelligent book.

I'm sorry but this book just was not for me! I persevered to the end but it just did not grip me. Obviously the author had done her research but I did not engage with the characters and found I got a little lost at times.