Claire Fuller

An addictively propulsive, richly nuanced and haunting story of horrors from Women’s Prize for Fiction finalist and Costa Novel Award–winning author Claire Fuller.

1987: After a childhood trauma and years in and out of the care system, sixteen-year-old Ursula finally has a job delivering mail at an art school and a room in a halfway house. She meets Sue, a magnetic and rebellious wild child who invites Ursula to squat with her and her friends at The Underwood, a long-abandoned and mysterious house whose former owners met a terrible end. Ursula can't resist becoming a part of this chosen family, and soon she and Sue become inseparable. But as Sue's behaviour and demands become more extreme, Ursula—who has always been hungry for food and more importantly for love, acceptance and belonging—carries out her friend's terrible dare. And, for this, Ursula finds herself literally haunted.

Thirty-six years later, Ursula is a renowned, reclusive sculptor living under a pseudonym in London. Her identity is exposed by true crime documentary-maker, Emma Zahini, who is digging into an unsolved disappearance. But it is not only the filmmaker who has discovered Ursula's whereabouts. As her past catches up with her present, Ursula must work out whether the monsters are within her or without.

Part gothic horror, part coming of age, and a contemporary twist on the haunted house story, Hunger & Thirst is a chilling tale of loneliness and female friendship, of the dangerous line between wanting and needing, and of how far a person will go to truly belong, from critically acclaimed and award-winning author Claire Fuller.