Albion by Anna Hope is a novel centred around a wealthy English family and their huge family estate. Following the death of their father, the family gather for his funeral at the house. Frannie, the eldest daughter and inheritor of the property wants to continue the rewilding that her and her father were passionate about, Milo wishes to create an exclusive healing centre and Isa returns from her teaching job to see her first love, Jack, who lived and worked on the estate.

I would describe this novel as a slow burn but each character is intriguing and it is easy to follow the different points of view through the distinct narration. Whilst the climax may be predictable, I thought it dealt well with the themes of money and power and found it to be a book I was always keen to get back to.

Albion spans five days as the Brooke family bury the man who has wielded so much influence over their lives. Frannie and her father established the Albion Project a decade ago, rewilding the Sussex estate as a contribution to a better future for all. Philip had a reputation for partying, hosting the legendary Teddy Bears’ Picnic, a free festival where he met both his wife Grace and his best friend Ned who has been camped out in the estate’s woodland ever since. Before his death, Philip had promised his son enough land to establish a centre for the psilocybin therapy Milo believed had cured his addiction. While Frannie and Milo wrangle over the estate’s precarious finances the daughter of one of Philip’s many lovers has decided to attend his funeral, about to drop a bombshell.
Anna Hope takes her time unfolding this absorbing story of a supremely dysfunctional family, exploring class, privilege, climate change and colonialism; weighty themes but she avoids bludgeoning her readers by deftly weaving her message about the foundation of wealth and where it comes from through an absorbing story, studded with some beautiful descriptions of the natural world. Her characters aren't monstrous – Philip was as scarred by his own childhood as his offspring have been by theirs – but they are blind to their history and its implications. It’s an impressive, ambitious novel, unafraid to tackle important issues while engaging readers in an engrossing story. I found the ending a bit too neat and tidy, but it does leave readers with hope.

3.5 ✨

I was very pleased to see there was a new Anna Hopebook, and immediately picked this one up.
Set in the most fraught of times, a family funeral.
It has a fairly small cast, in terms of the family, and a few estate workers, but there's plenty of high emotions running.
I enjoyed the talk of the rewilding.
A few surprises for me and the characters on the way, but amongst that were what felt like genuine moments of connection.

The Brooke siblings return to the familial estate for the funeral of the patriarch, Philip, who appears to be a fairly odious and entitled man.

The story addresses the complexity of the family relationships to each other, and to the two men who work the estate and the daughter of the woman that Philip left them for for a number of years. Each of the characters, whilst initially seeming quite one dimensional - Grace, the mother is emotionally unavailable, Frannie, the eldest daughter is seemingly defined by her sense of responsibility to the estate and rewinding project, etc. but they each, through a carefully winding story arc develop into intriguing individuals each carrying their own scars from their father’s behaviour.

There is a wonderful constant theme of the rewilding of the family estate driven by Philip and Frannie, showing even the worst people are not all bad!

I enjoyed this gentle story that ably carried weighty themes.