First published 2016
Max Montfalcon lies in his bed at Serenity House, a north London care facility, trying to tally the people he killed during wartime. The elderly resident might have lived out his final days quietly, but his son-in-law Albert has different plans. Albert serves as an MP with particular interest in war crimes legislation, and he sees opportunity in Max's past. The situation grows more complex when Jack enters the picture. This young American lives on video violence and Chinese food, bringing his own brand of chaos to the retirement home. Max finds himself tormented by Holocaust memories that refuse to fade. Meanwhile, Jack's presence disturbs every other resident at Serenity House. The collision between Max's buried wartime secrets, Albert's political ambitions, and Jack's disruptive influence creates tension that threatens to unravel the carefully maintained peace of the care home. Hope explores how the past refuses to stay buried and how different generations confront the weight of history.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Serenity House, London
Period: Wartime
282 pages · Kindle Edition · Atlantic Books
Content warnings: violence, war