Hope & Glory: 'A sweeping, rich tale’ Bolu Babalola
About this audiobook
'A sweeping, rich tale that explores family, secrets, loss, love and redemption within the context of a tessellation of cultures - written with a beautiful texture, Benson pulls you in to a deftly-woven story with tautly-written sentences, and before you know it you find yourself in too deep to get out, too deep to want to get out, wanting to know more.'
- Bolu Babalola, author of LOVE IN COLOUR
'Jendella Benson has drawn such a compelling world that Hope and Glory, the book and the characters themselves, stayed with me long after I'd turned the final pages.' - Candice Carty-Williams, author of QUEENIE
Glory arrives back in Peckham, from her seemingly-glamorous life in LA, to mourn the sudden death of her father, and finds her previously-close family has fallen apart in her absence. Her brother, Victor, has been jailed; her sister, Faith, appears to have lost her independence and ambition; and their mother, Celeste, is headed towards a breakdown. Glory is thrown by their disarray, and rather than returning to America she decides to stay and try to bring them all together again. However, when she unearths a huge family secret, Glory risks losing everyone she truly cares about in her pursuit of the truth.
HOPE AND GLORY is a rich, heart-warming story of loss, love and family chaos, and marks an exciting new voice in fiction.
About the author
Jendella Benson is the author of Hope & Glory and head of Editorial at Black Ballad - the award-winning digital platform for Black British women. She has written for The Guardian, The Sunday Times STYLE Magazine, The Telegraph and The Independent. Her short story 'Kindling' was published in The Book of Birmingham, and she was a judge for the 2023 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. Jendella is member of the advisory board for the award-winning, Brixton-based bookshop, Round Table Books and an accomplished public speaker.
Kelechi Okafor is a Nigerian-born, London-based lover of words-whether that's crafting works of fiction, articles, stageplays or screenplays; from directing others on stage to expressing her thoughts on society one episode at a time alongside esteemed interview guests on her award-winning former podcast Say Your Mind. In February 2024, Kelechi launched her new subscription-based channel on her website, known as Keleidoscope. No matter what form Kelechi's creativity takes - her work remains rooted in globally relevant conversations and events, framed through a lens of understanding that is firmly anti-colonial, anti-white-supremacy and anti-heteropatriarchy. Keleidoscope serves both as a personal exploration, and as a way to build a community that is challenged to think critically. Known online as @Kelechnekoff, Kelechi also affectionately known as "just a Baby Girl" by her followers, listeners and community. Her path has been guided by flames left by Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Chika Unigwe, Austin Channing Brown, ??un, and so many more voices from the past and present. Edge of Here is her debut story collection.
