Fig Tree acquires Anna Hope's finely 'crafted story of family, inheritance and accountability'

Helen Garnons-Williams, publishing director at Fig Tree, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in Albion, by Anna Hope, author of The Wake, The Ballroom, Expectation and The White Rock from Caroline Wood at Felicity Bryan Associates. Fig Tree will publish in hardback in spring 2025. 

Albion unfolds over five days as the Brooke family gather in their 18th-Century ancestral home — 20 bedrooms of carved Sussex sandstone — to bury Philip, the head of the household. “Father, grandfather, husband, one-time hippy and erstwhile philanderer, he was the blinding sun around which they have orbited for as long as they can remember,” the publisher teased. 

“Frannie, inheritor of a thousand acres of English countryside, mother to a daughter whose future she fears for, dreams of returning the estate to nature: a last line of defence against the coming climate catastrophe. Milo wants to create a treetop haven for the super-rich where, under the influence of psychedelic drugs, a new and improved ruling class will be reborn. Each believes their father has given them his blessing and are set on a collision course. 

“Isa, Philip’s estranged youngest child only hopes to seek out her childhood love — still living on the estate — to discover whether it is her feelings for him that are creating the fault lines in her marriage. And Grace, bruised and diminished after 50 years wedded to a man who cared nothing for her, is at a crossroads – wondering whether she might finally be able to choose between freedom and duty.  

"And then there is Clara, who arrives in their midst from America, bearing a truth that will send shockwaves through the narratives on which they’ve built their lives.” 

Garnons-Williams said: “Anna Hope is a writer of extraordinary empathy and bold imagination and her beautifully written, propulsive and nuanced new novel shakes the country house novel to its foundations. I can’t wait for readers to meet the Brooke family, and to delight in the dextrous way Anna keeps our sympathies for them shifting and evolving in this finely crafted story of family, inheritance and accountability.” 

Hope added: “I am delighted to be published again by Helen Garnons-Williams — whose editorial brilliance and energy are matched only by her integrity and kindness —- and to be part of such an exciting vibrant Fig Tree list.”