The Hop: A Novel

Written by Diana Clarke

Narrated by Taryn Ryan, Olivia Mackenzie-Smith, Adam Verner and 2 more

“The Hop is a fresh ode to sisterhood and sexual agency that crackles with verve and wit. I couldn't put it down.”—Gabriela Garcia, author of the New York Times bestseller and Good Morning America Pick Of Women and Salt

A page-turning feminist novel that tells the story of a poor scrappy girl from rural New Zealand who grows reluctantly into a sex icon, the face of a movement, and a mother, all at the same time.

Kate Burns grows up wanting attention from her Ma, but her Ma wants only money and Kate learns how to get both. She and her childhood friend, Lacey, run kissing lessons for cash in the janitor’s closet of Fenbrook High, and just like that, they find themselves in the sex work industry. From there, they go on to work at The Purple Panther, a strip club in Auckland. When Ma dies of cancer, Kate discovers that the men her Ma was always inviting over to their home were, in fact, clients. Ma was no stranger to sex work either. 

Following in Ma’s footsteps, Kate heads to Nevada where she picks up a job at America’s most prestigious brothel: The Hop. In her new life as a Bunny, Kate searches for an identity she can perform—the other Bunnies include a goth, a housewife, a cheerleader, a rebel, not to mention Betty, a trans beauty queen, Mia, a Japanese cosplayer, and Rain, a dominatrix. Kate becomes Lady Lane. The girls at The Hop are more fantasy than fact, and performance is always more perfect than the real. Kate is a natural and quickly rises through the ranks to become the bestselling Bunny and the owner, Daddy’s favorite. But when ten street hookers are killed in a nearby city, just bodies with no names, Lady joins her sister Bunnies in mourning and begins to see things in a new light.

Lady’s success breeds scandal and unwanted fame, deeply affecting her, transforming her life and The Hop forever. Diana Clarke’s provocative second novel is subversive in the very best way, an unforgettable work of fiction with a radical message about women that couldn’t be more important.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Jun 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063089136

Diana Clarke

Diana Clarke is an author and teacher originally from New Zealand. She holds a PhD from the University of Utah and an MFA from Purdue University. She was the 2022 Writer in Residence at the University of Waikato and is currently a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Canberra, in Australia.

Reviews for The Hop

[bridgettes-104215 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Hop is a well-written thought provoking story of the sex industry. It is very feministic, considering the storyline, but the author does a nice job interweaving the two. A nice bonus is the layout of the "chapters". They are not chapters, per se, but stories separated by the thoughts of each character wearing throughout the story - almost like a play. Highly recommend!