Published 29th January 2026 by Orenda Books.
From the cover of the book:
The year is 2082. Climate collapse, famine and war have left the world in ruins. In the shadow of the Alpha-Omega regime – descendants of the super-rich architects of disaster – sixteen-year-old Boo Ashworth and her uncle risk everything to save what’s left of human knowledge, hiding the last surviving books in a secret library beneath the streets of Hobart.
But Boo has a secret of her own: an astonishing ability to memorise entire texts with perfect recall. When the library is discovered and destroyed, she’s forced to flee – armed with nothing but the stories she carries in her mind, and a growing understanding of her family’s true past.
Hunted and alone, and with the help of some unlikely allies, she must fight to save her loved ones – and bring hope to a broken world.
Spanning three generations before, during and after the fall, The Hope is the shattering conclusion to Paul E. Hardisty’s critically acclaimed climate-emergency trilogy – a devastating, visionary thriller that dares to imagine the possibility of redemption in the face of near-total collapse. In a dying world, it asks the most urgent question of all: what if there’s still time?
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2082. The impact of climate collapse, war and famine has left the planet in ruins. The last vestiges of humanity are struggling to survive, while the cruel Alpha-Omega (A-O) regime (descendants of the architects of the fall) rule like new-age kings behind the high walls of their realms.
In Hobart, Tasmania, sixteen-year-old Boo Ashworth works with her Uncle Kweku to build a secret library, hidden underground. Their aim is to save what is left of human knowledge, even though discovery means death. When disaster strikes, and the library is destroyed, Boo is suddenly alone. But all is not lost, for Boo has perfect recall, and within her mind the stories she and Kweku rescued remain alive. Hunted by the son of the Eminence who established his A-O kingdom in Tasmania, Boo needs allies to help her save her loved ones...
The final book of The Forcing trilogy has arrived! You must have read the first two instalments (The Forcing, and The Descent) of this incredibly prescient trilogy before reading this book, as each one is integral to the story as a whole.
Picking up the thread of the previous epic trials and tribulations of the Ashworth family, Kweku, his wife Julie, his son Leo, and his niece Becky (Boo) have settled in Hobart - and are amassing a secret library of precious books in a propaganda-rife world that bans knowledge of the past. They risk detection at any moment - not helped by strife within the family (particularly when it comes to restless Leo); and Julie's terminal illness, which means venturing into the A-O city for medicine.
Boo takes up the narrative for the first time in this series. She has already been through many traumas, after her rescue from the A-O as a child, and she is about to come into her own as a 'fire-brand'. I loved Boo from the moment she speaks. She is strong, smart, and resilient, loves books and knowledge, and has enormous courage - which she certainly needs in this story, when disaster takes her into the heart of the dangerous A-O regime.
Weaving in-between Boo's coming-of-age narrative, the familiar voice of Kweku takes us back in time to revisit the actions of a murky character we encountered in the first book - Lachie Ashworth, Kweku's older step-brother. Lachie, once President of the USA, and instrumental in many of the misguided actions that helped the world fall, is now keen to tell his story. Bringing Kweku to his haven in the Alps to act as his biographer, he gradually tells his shocking tale - going right back to the shift in power to the younger generation that saw his political star rise. In a stunning twist, Lachie's story also holds within it the seeds of hope for a broken world - which connects beautifully with Boo's part in the novel.
Alongside a superb Dystopian plot, carried by Boo, the Lachie-Kweku storyline fills-in so many gaps about how and why events played out. I really enjoyed how this added oodles of detail to what we already know from both The Forcing and The Descent, and am impressed by Hardisty's skill as a writer in bringing everything full circle when the intricate threads collide in a breath-taking finale. Echoing themes of power, betrayal, and sacrifice run riot; strong female characters abound; and the exploration of the importance of knowledge and the written word is wonderful - especially, I think, when is comes to the clever way he refers to the 'truth' fiction can convey.
Hardisty does just what great speculative fiction should do in this series, by provoking your thoughts, and raising awareness about where humanity is heading, at the same time as immersing you in a cracking story. The unflinching way he reflects the current state of the world in Lachie's testament is especially brutal and hard to read, but he does not misrepresent the title of this book in any way by calling it The Hope - if only people will listen to what he has to say. Absolutely required reading when it comes to the very best of the cli-fi genre.
The Hope is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats. You can help to support indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.
Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Canadian Paul E Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was bumped from one of the last flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their families fleeing the rebels. In 1993 he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a. Paul is a university professor and CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).
Paul is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia.
