"Hunger and Thirst" | Reviewed by Pat Sainz

Claire Fuller’s “Hunger and Thirst” is a haunting story set in one of the most traditionally threatening of places—a decaying brick bungalow with a ghostly history set outside of foggy London. The cottage is damp, dark and abandoned. The yard is overgrown with weeds, clingy vines and rotted trees. 

       When Ursula and Vince decide to live there as squatters, they are shocked to see that the inside is full of dusty furniture, boxes of food in the pantry, closets full of clothes, and place settings neatly arranged at the table. It’s apparent that whoever lived there previously had forsaken it abruptly.

         In 1987, 16-year-old Ursula, parentless and friendless, moved from a halfway house to the desolate home with Vince, a coworker. Ursula’s life had been one of tragedy, guilt, and rejection. She ended up in the halfway house filled with rehab clients only because her social worker couldn’t find a home that would take her. Ursula is innocent; the homes to which she had been assigned have been brutal.

       Young Ursula was desperate for companionship. She clung to her co-workers at the art institute where she delivered mail. It was here that she developed her fascination for wood sculpture as she observed students during her daily rounds. There she met Sue, slightly older, who worked in the main office. Sue becomes her first friend.

      Inside the decrepit home, Sue invites Ursula, Vince, and Raymond to join her in a seance “just for fun.” During the seance, the group is faced with true evil.  An evil that threatens the group for years to come. 

       Tensions build when Ursula, desperately trying to please Sue, accepts and carries out a life-threatening dare from Sue.  The outcome is disastrous. 

        “Hunger and Thirst” is narrated by Ursula 40 years after the harrowing events in the house.  She tells her story from the perspective of a 56-year old woman, a now renowned artist specializing in large wood carvings.  

        Ursula’s identity, which she managed to conceal for decades to avoid being connected to the happenings of the past, is revealed when a famous television documentarian airs a program exploring the incidents that occurred in the condemned house while Ursula was living there.    

       The title “Hunger and Thirst” evokes Bible passages that illustrate the human need for righteousness and fulfillment.  With this novel, “hunger and thirst” takes on a more sinister significance.

         The cover is one to behold; it depicts one of Ursula’s massive wood sculptures featuring a woman with flies on her torso and a bloody thumbprint on her head. Apprehension escalates as the story progresses towards the climax.

This novel has it all for readers who relish dark, emotional, mysterious, and fast-paced books of gothic horror.

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