“A gripping and haunting story about female friendship, obsession, and the exhaustion of carrying trauma and grief over the course of your life. Ursula and Sue are such brilliantly crafted characters and the pacing of the tension makes this novel impossible to put down, especially after one of them makes a decision that will haunt them for decades.” —Condé Nast Traveler, a Must-Read Book of Summer
“Gripping, even breathtaking . . . Impossible to forget.” —The Michigan Daily
“Traipses through haunted houses, art studios, and friendships so seamlessly that I felt entirely rapt while reading.” —Chicago Review of Books
“Equal parts coming of age and gothic haunted house story, this novel charts the friendship between two young women who meet at a halfway house; thirty six years later, their past is dredged up and with it, confronting truths about the monsters that still haunt them.” —Forbes, a Best Book of June
“A dark, satisfying thriller.” —Electric Literature
“A fascinating blend of gothic horror, haunted house, and coming-of-age fiction, creating an unmistakable eerie vibe that will keep you in suspense at every turn. Good luck putting this book down once you start!” —Chicago Review of Books, a Best Book of June
“A slow burn done right and I am here for it. It mixes horror, thriller, and a coming-of-age story perfectly.” —The Book Review Crew
“Emotionally complex . . . Hunger and Thirst is a novel that lingers in your mind long after you have read the last page.” —Bookreporter
“Atmospheric, intricately plotted, and devastating as hell, this story will have you reeling by the time you finish the final pages.” —Macabre Daily
“This novel has it all for readers who relish dark, emotional, mysterious, and fast-paced books of gothic horror.” —Bound to Read
“One of my favorite reads this year.” —Anna Rose Reads
“Gripping . . . A thread of constant second-guessing is woven through the novel, echoing the same question over and over: What really happened? This technique is incredibly effective at pulling the reader into the story, making the book extremely difficult to put down. If you are looking for a striking new work of literary horror, a psychologically twisted coming-of-age tale, Claire Fuller delivers.” —The Nerd Daily
“[A] lurid, big-boned, often brilliant book about a sculptor and a true-crime documentary . . . oscillates between social realism and gothic horror . . . full of the intense feeling and intimate portrayal of the inner life that characterizes Fuller’s work.” —The Guardian (UK)
“Psychologically gripping, disquieting, and breathlessly suspenseful . . . Fuller performs a feat few writers manage. . . . A brilliant and truly terrifying account of trauma.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“This slow-burn literary novel masterfully depicts Ursula’s trauma, building a chilling psychological unease. Visceral and creepy, the genre-bending tale weaves body horror and haunted-house elements into a morally ambiguous tale that blurs the lines between guilt, possession, and reality.” —Booklist, Starred Review
“Propulsive and beguiling . . . Fuller has a knack for sustaining a spooky vibe.” —Publishers Weekly
“Fascinating . . . Those who appreciate psychological tension and literary gothic fiction will likely find much to admire. Claire Fuller once again proves she knows how to write about people who carry loneliness like a second skin.” —Write on the World
“In Claire Fuller’s haunting thriller Hunger and Thirst, a teenager’s isolation in a decrepit, abandoned house coincides with a grisly murder. . . . Masterful and macabre . . . The heightened drama and tension carry through to the book’s gratifying ending.” —Foreword Reviews, Starred Review
“A dare that Ursula took in adolescence is literally haunting her years later.” —Library Journal, Big Books of the Year
“Hunger and Thirst kept me up late at night, it frightened and enthralled me. Atmospheric, psychologically vivid, and unputdownable.” —Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam
“Unremittingly unsettling, propulsive and tense. Claire Fuller excels at depicting outsiders and writes with such precision and economy. Truly terrifying.” —Sarah Vaughan, author of Little Disasters
“In Claire Fuller’s Hunger and Thirst, we meet Ursula Major, a sixteen-year-old orphan living on her own. She finds her first real friend in Sue, a colleague at work, who helps her find a place to stay at an abandoned squat with a tragic history. As her friendship with Sue deepens, strange things begin to happen at the house, which culminates in an accident of violence with far-reaching consequences. But did something happen, or is Ursula, long traumatized by her background, unable to tell what is real from what isn’t? I was enthralled by the creeping horror, rapt, utterly unable to put this book down, haunted as I was reading it and haunted still. Claire Fuller, a master of psychic suspense, has done it again.” —Lindsay Hunter, author of Hot Springs Drive
“Harrowing and tender in turn, Hunger and Thirst is an expertly sculpted character study of a girl living in the long shadow of trauma—it gripped me immediately and didn’t let go. Ursula’s desperate hungers live in all of us, and Claire Fuller illuminates them in exquisite, exacting prose. This is the kind of book to clear a weekend for, the kind of resonant nightmare that lingers long after its end.” —Hayden Casey, author of A Harvest of Furies
“Claire Fuller has set a dauntingly high bar with her previous novels, and Hunger and Thirst does not disappoint. A gothic chiller—haunting, artful, suspenseful, complex, and cinematic, with traces of early Ian McEwan.” —William Landay, author of All That Is Mine I Carry With Me
“An absolute masterpiece. Utterly absorbing, genuinely unsettling . . . like all the most terrifying horror films of the ’70s and ’80s and all the most scary ghost stories.” —Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
“Gothic, disturbing, and mesmerizingly well-written, Hunger and Thirst is like nothing I’ve read before. Claire Fuller’s ability to generate suspense, revulsion, and disquiet within a nuanced and intelligent world is second to none.” —Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane
“What an addictive, disturbing, and suspenseful book! Its cast of young characters, haunting and haunted by secrets, guilt, violence, and betrayal, reminded me of Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine at her most vivid. Poor, needy Ursula, traumatized by a childhood in care and blossoming at art school is a rare creation.” —Amanda Craig, author of The Three Graces
“Love story, psychological thriller, highly literary horror—Claire Fuller pulls off all three with this brilliant novel that is familiar and frightening in equal measure. Most of all, it’s GREAT FUN. I absolutely loved it.” —Kathleen MacMahon, author Nothing But Blue Sky
