Hope Street by Mike Gayle

Hope Street is the latest novel by Mike Gayle. Published in 2025, I picked it up nice and cheaply in Sainsbury’s a couple of months ago.

Hope Street is the story of young journalist, Lila, working hard to make a name for herself. Her editor asks her to call in on a young man on Hope Street in Derby, who is refusing to move from his house in an area facing demolition and regeneration.

Connor has learning difficulties. A few years ago, his mum went out and never came back. Connor knows she would never leave him and knows she will eventually come back. So he can’t leave his home, even though everyone else on the street has moved out, because otherwise his mum won’t be able to find him.

Lila secures herself a front page, but she also wants to do all she can to help Connor find his mum. The police have given up, but Lila believes that Connor’s mum would never leave him deliberately. Can one journalist and the power of the press make things better for Connor?

Hope Street is a beautiful story of friendship, family, love and community. There are lots of twists and turns along the way for Lila, Conner and their friends and it had me in tears several times.

This is my fifth Mike Gayle book and it comes the closest to his brilliant Half a World Away, in terms of the quality of the story and the characters. If you like a feelgood read, with a few ups and down, I would definitely recommend Hope Street.

PS fellow Levellers fans will know exactly what was stuck in my head the whole time I was reading this!