The Engagement

A complex psychological thriller that draws on the rich literary history of madwomen in the attic, from Jane Eyre and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca... The Engagement is not Fifty Shades of Grey; its kicks, and kicks in the teeth, are much more subtle. -- Lucy Scholes * Independent *
The pages fly past so quickly you almost miss the sharp turn of phrase and imagery … Chloe Hooper’s novel engages us, like Liese in Colquhoun’s fantasy, in an S&M web for which we don’t know the safe word. -- Fleur MacDonald * Literary Review *
The novel has an affecting oddness all its own... I hope that some of E L James' seemingly insatiable fans chance upon The Engagement and find there is more satisfaction in its pages than in Christian Grey’s whipping room. -- Alex Peake-Tomkinson * Daily Telegraph *
The Engagement is Chloe Hooper’s second novel and comes almost a decade after her well-received debut, A Child’s Book of True Crime. It is a much tighter, more suspenseful work… The Engagement is compelling. -- Stephanie Bishop * Times Literary Supplement *
Hooper ably sustains the tension, carefully deploying surprises. The isolation of the farm and the “creeping shocks” of the wilderness create a potent unease. * The New Yorker *
Chloe Hooper’s writing is singularly challenging and confrontational... For those who prefer their erotic literature less Fifty Shades of Grey and more Jane Eyre. -- Catherine Taylor * Sunday Telegraph *
Daphne du Maurier, Charlotte Brontë, Alfred Hitchcock, you hear them approving, a cackling cacophony to counterpoint Liese’s voices, so beautifully spun by Chloe Hooper it all sounds seamless. Polished gothic. -- Tom Adair * Scotsman *
Engagement reminds us too of the power of fiction, both within the story and outside it. Liese feels threatened by the stories she herself has told, and we in turn flip the pages breathlessly, suspending disbelief. -- John Self * Guardian *
In terms of myth, it is rather like Bluebeard’s castle...in film terms, it recalls Psycho. -- David Grylls * Sunday Times *
A gothic tale, filled with brilliantly creepy details. -- Suzy Hansen * Financial Times *