Hunger and Thirst is Claire Fuller’s sixth novel, all but one of which I’ve reviewed on here. Narrated by Ursula, now in her fifties, it follows a group of young people brought together in the ‘80s by Sue, intent on becoming a film maker, who’d sought out the perfect location for a slice of gothic horror.
I sat on my bed looking at her drawing of me on my plaster cast, wondering if she was my friend now and whether that meant she would let me down.
Since she was seven, sixteen-year-old Ursula has been in care. Her mother died in distressing circumstances, leaving her orphaned. A sympathetic social worker has found her a half-way house and a job in the post room of an art college where she meets Sue, confident and ambitious, who becomes her first real friend. When she’s offered a room in a house by another colleague, Ursula jumps at the chance to escape the squalid half-way house despite Vince’s frequent drunken bad behaviour, surprised by Sue’s apparent attraction to him. Ursula blossoms, encouraged to explore her creativity by Sue’s welcoming family, not least Raymond, Sue’s brother. She’s a little spooked by the stories Sue tells about the Bloodworths and the grizzly discovery of their corpses in the bungalow she and Vince are squatting. After her friend engineers a séance, Ursula becomes increasingly unsettled, awoken by strange smells and noises, unwilling to take part in Sue’s film based on Bloodsworths’ fate but incapable of resisting her. Decades later, now a renowned sculptor, Ursula, refuses to be interviewed for a documentary about Sue’s disappearance shortly after that night.
I know it is better to face head-on whatever haunts you, but it is often hard to do.
Ursula narrates this story of madness, manipulation and suspense, flitting back and forth between the present day and the events of 1987. Ursula has her own version of what happened the night Sue disappeared, very different from the one the documentary presents. She is, of course, an unreliable narrator as all the best ones are, particularly in a novel with this level of suspense. Her story unfolds against a backdrop of a care system unfit for purpose, in which vulnerable young people are cast adrift despite the well-meaning efforts of those tasked to oversee their care, left to their own devices with no safety network after they reach adulthood. A a riveting piece of fiction, surprisingly poignant at time, this isn’t the first of Fuller’s novels with a gothic flavour about it – a word I used in my subtitle for Bitter Orange – but Hunger and Thirst takes it several steps further with elements of full-blown horror, a genre I tend to avoid. Given Fuller’s track record I trusted her to deliver, and she did.
Fig Tree: London 9780241757383 352pages Hardback
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Though generally positive, I have a mixed relationship with Claire Fuller’s books. And I too am a horror refuser. But you’ve said enough to convince me to give this a go. In due course. Five books from my TBR have come together onto the reservation shelf – today. Aaaaagh.
She did pull me some way out of my comfort zone with this one. I may have to take a view on her next.
I went to see Claire at Blackwell’s the other week. As she signed copies – she stamped little flies around her signature – I understand they become quite a motif. The art school setting is irresistible, and she has used her own experience, training as a sculptor at Winchester, and the squat was inspired by one she lived in for a time too!
That’s interesting – the art school scenes are particularly good. I wonder if those flies indicate she’s turning more towards horror.
She did say it was her darkest novel yet, inspired by growing up reading Stephen King and James Herbert! I’m sure her next will be different again.
I’ve read Bitter Orange and Unsettled Ground, both of which I enjoyed. I’ve got this one on request from the library.
I thought this one was darker but still up to her usual high standard of writing. Hope you enjoy it!
I was surprised by just how much this was a horror story but I do enjoy her writing and I liked this book overall. Though I might take a longer look at her next one before reading it, if this is the direction she’s going in.
I agree, Karissa. Horror’s not a genre I’d usually read.
Horror isn’t really my preference, but you have convinced me on this one!
Mine, neither. This one’s probably taken me as far as I want to go down that particular road.
Oh, I love horror fiction, but I AM picky about it! (Can’t be chopped up body parts kind of thing) I go for the Shirley Jackson dark creepy stuff or the Ruth Rendell (writing as Barbara Vine) dark psychological fiction. Hunger & Thirst sounds like just my type of thing. I’ve read Fuller’s Bitter Orange & Unsettled Ground and like them pretty well, so I’m definitely “on” for Hunger & Thirst.
I think this one will suit you fine. All menace and creepiness no gore!