The Hypocrite

(Hardback)

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Description

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 Sophia's father, a 61-year-old novelist who does not feel himself to be a bad or outdated person sits in a large theatre, surrounded by strangers, watching his daughter's first play.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.

Reviews

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
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
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

Author Bio

Jo Hamya was born in London, in 1997. She is the author of Three Rooms and has written for The New York Times, the Financial Times, and the Fence, among others. Currently, she works as an in house writer and archivist for the Booker Prizes and its authors. She is also the recipient of a Harold Moody doctoral studentship at King's College London, where her research focuses around building on 20th century western literary sociology and critique to create a viable school of literary criticism for a 21st century digitised landscape.