LoveReading Says
Intense, tender and raw, Kevin Jared Hosein’s Hungry Ghosts tells an immersive story of two families from very different sides of the track in 1940s Trinidad. It’s a mystery around a man’s disappearance, a tale of social inequalities and sweeping social change, and a novel whose characters and communities feel blisteringly real.
“Sometime in the 1940s, Trinidad. Four boys ventured to the river to perform a blood oath. Two brothers and two cousins… ‘Gonna have nothin more important than this,’ the twins told the cousins.” So begins Hungry Ghosts, introducing us to some of the Saroops who live in one of the dilapidated sugarcane estate barracks that lie “scattered like half-buried bones across the plain, strewn from their colonial corpse.” This is Trinidad as the island nears the end of British colonialism, as the Americans arrive after Nazi U-boats are spotted in the Caribbean Sea, demolishing a village to make room for their base. As one character remarks, “times change”, and a sense of change and uprooting swells through this story.
High on the hill above the barracks, Dalton Changoor and his young wife Marlee live in luxury on their farm. One day, Dalton vanishes, leaving a mysterious note, and leaving Marlee exposed to dangers, so she invites one of their labourers to work as a watchman for a handsome stipend. As the lives of those down in the barracks and those high on the hill become entangled, we witness intense struggles to change the status quo and one’s life, and the complex consequences of those struggles. Hosein’s storytelling is sublime as the story builds with tremendous intensity. His writing is succulent, muscular and brilliantly impactful. What a book.
Joanne Owen
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Hungry Ghosts Synopsis
LONGLISTED FOR THE SWANSEA UNIVERSITY DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE
WINNER OF THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
"This is a deeply impressive book, and I think an important one. Its intensity, its narrative attack, the fascinations of its era and setting, make it impossible to tear the attention away. Energy and inventiveness distinguish every page." -- Hilary Mantel
From an unforgettable new voice in Caribbean literature, a sweeping story of two families colliding in 1940s Trinidad--and a chilling mystery that shows how interconnected their lives truly are
Trinidad in the 1940s, nearing the end of American occupation and British colonialism. On a hill overlooking Bell Village sits the Changoor farm, where Dalton and Marlee Changoor live in luxury unrecognizable to those who reside in the farm's shadow. Down below is the Barrack, a ramshackle building of wood and tin, divided into rooms occupied by whole families. Among these families are the Saroops--Hans, Shweta, and their son, Krishna, all three born of the barracks. Theirs are hard lives of backbreaking work, grinding poverty, devotion to faith, and a battle against nature and a social structure designed to keep them where they are.
But when Dalton goes missing and Marlee's safety is compromised, farmhand Hans is lured by the promise of a handsome stipend to move to the farm as a watchman. As the mystery of Dalton's disappearance unfolds, the lives of the wealthy couple and those who live in the barracks below become insidiously entwined, their community changed forever and in shocking ways.
A searing and singular novel of religion, class, family, and historical violence, and rooted in Trinidad's wild pastoral landscape and inspired by oral storytelling traditions, Hungry Ghosts is deeply resonant of its time and place while evoking the roots and ripple effects of generational trauma and linked histories; the lingering resentments, sacrifices, and longings that alter destinies; and the consequences of powerlessness. Lyrically told and rendered with harrowing beauty, Hungry Ghosts is a stunning piece of storytelling and an affecting mystery, from a blazingly talented writer.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780063213388 |
| Publication date: |
7th February 2023 |
| Author: |
Kevin Jared Hosein |
| Publisher: |
Ecco Press an imprint of HarperCollins |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
336 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Literary Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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