His satirical first novel, A Separate Development, was banned on publication in South Africa in 1977 for its acid portrait of life under apartheid.
While living in London, Hope was a contributor to the BBC, and to various newspapers including The Guardian, Les Temps Modernes, The New Yorker and The Independent.
In 2014 he wrote the libretto for the musical drama A Distant Drum, commissioned and performed at Carnegie Hall.
Kruger's Alp was described by the New York Times Book Review as "a novel in the form of a dream allegory".
Despite its departure from Hope's earlier writings, Kruger's Alp was greeted with critical acclaim from various journals, including The New Statesman, New Society and the Daily Telegraph.
[citation needed] Hope's other novels include The Hottentot Room, Darkest England, My Mother's Lovers and Jim Fish.
His work includes essays, stories and plays for radio and, most recently, a portrait of the new South Africa in the post-apartheid years, The Cafe de Move-On Blues (2018).