Wellfleet Public Library

Hope - a novel

In conversation with Elena Ridker

The year is 2013 and the Greenspans are the envy of Brookline, Massachusetts. Scott Greenspan is a successful physician with his own cardiology practice. His wife, Deb, is a pillar of the community who spends her free time helping resettle refugees. Their daughter, Maya, works at a distinguished New York publishing house and their son, Gideon, is preparing to follow in his father's footsteps. They are an exceptional family from an exceptional place, living in exceptional times. But when Scott is caught falsifying blood samples at work, he sets in motion a series of scandals that threatens to shatter his family. From Brookline to Berlin to the battlefields of Syria, Hope follows the Greenspans over the course of one tumultuous year as they question, and compromise, the values that have shaped their lives. But in the midst of their disillusionment, they will discover their own capacity for resilience, connection - and, ultimately, hope.

Andrew Ridker's debut novel, The Altruists, was a New York Times Editors' Choice, a Paris Review Staff Pick, and a People Book of the Week. It was translated into more than a dozen languages. He is the editor of Privacy Policy: The Anthology of Surveillance Poetics and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Le Monde, and Bookforum, among other publications. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Elena Ridker is currently a staff writer on Season 2 of HBO's late-night sports comedy show, Game Theory with Bomani Jones. Elena has multiple pilot projects in development alongside her brother Andrew, including an animated comedy series with The Lonely Island's development company, Party Over Here.

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