A complex psychological thriller that draws on the rich literary history of madwomen in the attic, from Jane Eyre and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca... The Engagement is not Fifty Shades of Grey; its kicks, and kicks in the teeth, are much more subtle. -- Lucy Scholes * Independent *
The pages fly past so quickly you almost miss the sharp turn of phrase and imagery ... Chloe Hooper's novel engages us, like Liese in Colquhoun's fantasy, in an S&M web for which we don't know the safe word. -- Fleur MacDonald * Literary Review *
The novel has an affecting oddness all its own... I hope that some of E L James' seemingly insatiable fans chance upon The Engagement and find there is more satisfaction in its pages than in Christian Grey's whipping room. -- Alex Peake-Tomkinson * Daily Telegraph *
The Engagement is Chloe Hooper's second novel and comes almost a decade after her well-received debut, A Child's Book of True Crime. It is a much tighter, more suspenseful work... The Engagement is compelling. -- Stephanie Bishop * Times Literary Supplement *
Hooper ably sustains the tension, carefully deploying surprises. The isolation of the farm and the creeping shocks of the wilderness create a potent unease. * The New Yorker *
