From a fiercely talented writer poised to be a new generation’s Rachel Cusk or Deborah Levy, a novel set between the London stage and Sicily, about a daughter who turns her novelist father’s fall from grace into a play, and a father who increasingly fears his precocious daughter’s voice.
“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 and Entitlement
“Sharp, witty and astute about parents and children, but never cruel; I enjoyed it hugely.” —David Nicholls, author of One Day and You Are Here
August 2020. Sophia, a young playwright, awaits her father’s verdict on her new show. A famous author whose novels haven’t aged as gracefully into the modern era as he might have hoped, he is completely unaware that the play centers around a vacation the two took years earlier to an island off Sicily, where he dictated to her a new book. Sophia’s play has been met with rave reviews, but her father has studiously avoided reading any of them. When the house lights dim however, he understands that his daughter has laid him bare, has used the events of their summer to create an incisive, witty, skewering critique of the attitudes and sexual mores of the men of his generation.
Set through one staging of the play, The Hypocrite seamlessly and scorchingly shifts time and perspective, illuminating an argument between a father and his daughter that, with impeccable nuance, examines the fraught inheritances each generation is left to contend with and the struggle to nurture empathy in a world changing at lightning-speed.
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"Jo Hamya writes beautiful sentences, with The Hypocrite showing off such impeccable descriptions as, ‘on a small white boat that rocked like a bell towards a catalogue of blistered cliff faces.’ The Hypocrite also asks excellent questions about race and class…These gems illuminate the plot, which moves between the present and the past with ease…The Hypocrite offers much to think about regarding being a writer, creating worlds from memory and imagination, and how that affects all parties potentially involved…At its heart, though, this is a novel about familiar and familial pain, the hurts those closest can inflict, even when the harm is unintended or goes completely unnoticed. And it packs a punch, despite its small size. Hamya certainly calls into question the version of masculinity performed by Sophia's father, but she doesn't completely negate him, rendering his embarrassment and confusion beautifully…Impeccable."
— Shelf Awareness
Brilliant. Thrilling and unpredictable, it struck me 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 AssemblyThe 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 ManPrecisely and beautifully rendered.
— Katie Kitamura, New York Times Book Revie"[Hamya’s] intelligence and stylistic restraint make this snapshot of England all the more damning."An excellent evisceration of contemporary life.
— Boston GlobeHamya is brilliant.
— Minneapolis Star-Tribune“Hamya writes with a Cuskian pellucidity, but confronts capital and the precariat in a way Cusk never does, in its many smudgy, insidious forms.
— Times Literary Supplement“A phenomenal achievement.
— The TimesA cerebral and slyly caustic debut…the novel’s cool electricity relies on stress-testing every point of view it portrays.
— The ObserverBiting and truthful.
— The GuardianA sly, artful, seductive, contentedly idiosyncratic piece of work…The writing is sensuous, instinctive and free.
— The New StatesmanThe 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 ManThe 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 BehindA Most Anticipated Book of the Year from Lit Hub and Electric Literature
“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 BehindBrilliant. Thrilling and unpredictable, it struck me 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 AssemblyThe 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 ManThe 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"Taut, poised.
— The Bookseller, Editors' ChoiceThe 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 ManI loved Jo Hamya’s elegantly plotted and wickedly funny The Hypocrite. A perfect and perfectly merciless novel.
— Sarah Bernstein, author of Study for ObedienceThe 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 DoloresTaut, poised.
— The Bookseller, Editors' ChoiceThe 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 ManSharp, witty and astute about parents and children, but never cruel; I enjoyed it hugely.
— David Nicholls, author of One DayThe 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 DoloresThe 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 DoloresWitty and devastatingly acute.
— The GuardianI have rarely underlined so many passages in a book…Hamya’s writing is tightly wound, and continually constricting: no one escapes her judgement. There is empathy amid the cool critique…But all the characters are also revealed to have their own hypocrisies, and a powerful sense of self-righteous victimhood…From curtain up, The Hypocrite offers forensic and pitiless insights into an embodied generation gap—everyone believing they’re in the right; everyone, of course, still getting things wrong. So who is the hypocrite of the title? Oh, probably all of them.
— iNewsAcerbic…Hamya writes with real wit. Her descriptions are rich…Since the publication of her debut novel, Three Rooms, 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.
— Literary ReviewPrecisely and beautifully rendered.
— Katie Kitamura, New York Times Book Review"[Hamya’s] intelligence and stylistic restraint make this snapshot of England all the more damning.Acerbic…Hamya writes with real wit. Her descriptions are rich…Since the publication of her debut novel, Three Rooms, 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.
— Literary ReviewTaut, poised.
— The Bookseller, Editors' ChoiceA darkly comic family drama that keeps us guessing right up to the end…Hamya’s prose is crisp and fluid.
— Times Literary SupplementThe drama of the story’s intergenerational strife keeps us rapt on its own terms, but also functions as an even-handed cultural satire targeting social media-powered morality in the 21st century. Written with cool precision as well as barely veiled glee, it confirms Hamya as one of the sharpest new writers around.
— Daily MailThe Hypocrite poses the conundrum with wit, tension and unsparing insight into the generational divide. Here, Jo Hamya has written a powerful allegory for the culture wars at large.
— Prospect MagazineGender roles, generation gaps, the nature of genius: Hamya explores big ideas but is at her best offering precise observations…A biting novel of art, inheritance, and evolving mores.
— KirkusProvocative… None of the characters escape Hamya’s bemused and excoriating view, nor are there any easy answers to the questions raised about expressions of gender and privilege in art. Fans of Anne Enright’s The Wren, the Wren ought to take note.
— Publishers WeeklyProvocative… None of the characters escape Hamya’s bemused and excoriating view, nor are there any easy answers to the questions raised about expressions of gender and privilege in art. Fans of Anne Enright’s The Wren, the Wren ought to take note.
— Publishers WeeklyI was instantly pulled in by the ingenious structure of this novel…All the various strands braid into a fraught, compelling conversation, not just between parents and children, but between generations, and even between modes of art and understanding.
— Lit HubA Most Anticipated Book of the Year from Town and Country, Lit Hub, Electric Literature
Witty and devastatingly acute.
— The GuardianA darkly comic family drama that keeps us guessing right up to the end…Hamya’s prose is crisp and fluid.
— Times Literary SupplementThe drama of the story’s intergenerational strife keeps us rapt on its own terms, but also functions as an even-handed cultural satire targeting social media-powered morality in the 21st century. Written with cool precision as well as barely veiled glee, it confirms Hamya as one of the sharpest new writers around.
— Daily MailThe Hypocrite poses the conundrum with wit, tension and unsparing insight into the generational divide. Here, Jo Hamya has written a powerful allegory for the culture wars at large.
— Prospect Magazine“Sharp, witty and astute about parents and children, but never cruel; I enjoyed it hugely.
— David Nicholls, author of One DayThe 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 BehindI have rarely underlined so many passages in a book…Hamya’s writing is tightly wound, and continually constricting: no one escapes her judgement. There is empathy amid the cool critique…But all the characters are also revealed to have their own hypocrisies, and a powerful sense of self-righteous victimhood…From curtain up, The Hypocrite offers forensic and pitiless insights into an embodied generation gap—everyone believing they’re in the right; everyone, of course, still getting things wrong. So who is the hypocrite of the title? Oh, probably all of them.
— iNewsAcerbic…Hamya writes with real wit. Her descriptions are rich…Since the publication of her debut novel, Three Rooms, 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.
— Literary ReviewBrilliant. Thrilling and unpredictable, it struck me 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 AssemblyThe 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 ManThe Hypocrite poses the conundrum with wit, tension and unsparing insight into the generational divide. Here, Jo Hamya has written a powerful allegory for the culture wars at large.
— Prospect MagazineI loved Jo Hamya’s elegantly plotted and wickedly funny The Hypocrite. A perfect and perfectly merciless novel.
— Sarah Bernstein, author of Study for ObedienceThe 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 DoloresTaut, poised.
— The Bookseller, Editors' ChoiceBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!