The Hypocrite

Jo Hamya author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Orion Publishing Co

Published:25th Apr '24

£18.99

Available for immediate dispatch.

The Hypocrite cover

What happens when we stop idolising the generations above us? Stop idolising our own parents?

What happens when we become frightened of the generations below us? Frightened of our own children?


The Aeolian islands, 2010. Sophia, on the cusp of adulthood, spends a long hot summer with her father in Sicily. There she falls in love for the first time. There she works as her father's amanuensis, typing the novel he dictates, a story about sex and gender divides. There, their relationship fractures.

London, Summer 2020. Sophia's father, a 61-year-old novelist who does not feel himself to be a bad or outdated person sits in a large theatre, surrounded by strangers, watching his daughter's first play. A play that takes that Sicilian holiday is its subject. A play that will force him to watch his purported crimes play out in front of him.

I thought The Hypocrite was brilliant. Thrilling and unpredictable, as a story of misunderstanding and failed connection, told with a dreamy, Sofia Coppola-esque quality. As a portrayal of artistic creation fuelled by bitterness, The Hypocrite uncovers an uncomfortable truth: how a piece of art can both unify and alienate -- Natasha Brown, author of ASSEMBLY
Sharp, witty and astute about parents and children, but never cruel; I enjoyed it hugely -- David Nicholls, ONE DAY
The Hypocrite is an acid chamber piece that skewers the father, mother and daughter at its heart without denying them their messy, affecting humanity. It's tense, it's painful, it's funny. I loved it -- Chris Power, author of A LONELY MAN
I loved Jo Hamya's elegantly plotted and wickedly funny The Hypocrite. A perfect and perfectly merciless novel -- Sarah Bernstein, author of the Booker-shortlisted STUDY FOR OBEDIENCE
The Hypocrite is engrossing, acerbic and elegantly executed. Jo Hamya artfully reveals her characters' flaws and vulnerabilities with humour, wit and style -- Lauren Aimee Curtis, author of STRANGERS AT THE PORT
Hamya writes with real wit. Her style has rightly been compared to Rachel Cusk's. With this original novel - sensitively observed and artfully paced - she breaks out into something of her own -- Lucy Thynne * LITERARY REVIEW *
A taut, poised portrait of a father-daughter relationship and the attitudinal clash between generations -- Madeleine Feeny * THE BOOKSELLER, Editor's Choice *

The Hypocrite is a sharp book, beautifully written. Jo Hamya poses complex questions - about art and ethics, family life and sexual mores - and withholds from her reader any easy answers

-- Rumaan Alam, author of LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND
I relished the original emotional pulse of The Hypocrite, a compulsive tale of a reckoning with memory and responsibility played out in real time -- Laura Bailey
[A] clever study of art, dysfunction and generational difference . . . a well-wrought and very clever book -- Sarah Moss * GUARDIAN *
An astute, funny-sad analysis of power, perception and memory that questions the value of art and the responsibilities - and egos - of those who make it -- Catherine Jarvie * MARIE CLAIRE *
Caustically funny -- Martin Chilton * THE INDEPENDENT *
The Hypocrite is a brooding, taut novel -- Anna Bonet * I PAPER *
A sharp, insightful read -- Jo Finney * GOOD HOUSEKEEPING *
The plot moves with a smooth economy, brilliantly satirising all kinds of pretension, while offering psychological insights -- Tom Payne * THE MAIL ON SUNDAY *

ISBN: 9781399613224

Dimensions: 220mm x 140mm x 26mm

Weight: 360g

240 pages