Every so often a novel comes along with a magic, broad appeal; an inevitable conversation starter. Jessica Stanley’s A Great Hope is that kind of magic novel; a literary, multi-generational family saga that’s ambitious, smart and wholly engaging. Here is a book that wields a page-turning plot and gripping, complicated characters. You’ll gulp down all 400 pages, then push it fervently into the hands of everyone you know. Like Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, or Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap, A Great Hope has a lot of timely things to say about families, politics, power and what we value. And it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

Set in Melbourne and Canberra between two landmark federal elections (Rudd’s in 2007 and Gillard’s in 2010), this is a family saga wrapped around a murder mystery. It begins a year after the death of Australian politician John Clare. John has fallen to his death off the roof of his swanky Fitzroy home. It seems like an accident, but as his inner circle grieve and process their loss, it soon becomes clear that John’s relationships were more complicated than they might appear. Drawing on the alternating perspectives of a complex cast of characters (including John’s wife, children and mistress), Stanley sets thoughtful questions around the politics of marriage and parenting against the backdrop of a landmark era where federal party politics failed a nation.

Stanley’s political page-turner could not be released into the world at a better time than this 2022 election year. Over the course of A Great Hope, we witness John’s rise, from head of a powerful union to key player in the Kevin07 campaign. The three years that followed were truly pivotal in Australian politics, and Stanley explores this moment in history with a razor-sharp touch. A Great Hope is both a compelling mystery and an astute study of Australian politics by an exciting new literary talent.

Stella Charls is a bookseller at Readings Carlton.