Hungry Ghosts

Immersive and beautifully written, it was impossible to put down * Independent *
Magnificent . . . A tale in the Gothic tradition: think Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea or Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy . . . A superlative book that deserves to win prizes * i *
Lush, lyrical . . . If you read it now, you’ll be able to brag about it when it’s on all the literary prize shortlists * Independent *
The language is as lush, moody and thrilling as the landscape . . . Electrifying * New York Times Book Review *
A barnstorming fable about the perils of upward mobility, set in the dog days of colonial rule in the author’s native Trinidad . . . Told with riveting verve, this is a terrific novel, pegged to national as well as domestic strife, peopled by flesh-and blood characters and plotted to keep us on tenterhooks about the story’s pole-axing finale * Daily Mail *
Hungry Ghosts reads like a Greek tragedy relocated to a gothic Caribbean setting worthy of Jean Rhys — a story of cursed families and inherited vengeance, inexplicable horrors and impossible dreams and a country haunted, as Hosein reminds us, by the ghosts of the indentured . . . [A] sumptuous, brilliantly written novel * The Times *
A tale that throbs with the threat of danger, both emotional and physical … Hungry Ghosts is a dazzling debut * Independent *
Rich in vocabulary and description, the novel situates characters in a meticulously detailed setting that evokes Middlemarch, with a similar empathy for human struggle . . . In scope and style it’s not far off a masterpiece * Financial Times, Highlights for 2023 *
A striking debut of violence, religion and family struggles set in 1940s colonial Trinidad * Guardian, Highlights for 2022 *
[Hosein's] story, often brutal, ultimately tragic, is nevertheless lit by a wide embrace reaching beyond place and people to the bedrock . . . Immersive, persuasive: an elemental ‘portal to the Caribbean’ delivered in a distinctive voice * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *
Both a family drama and an acute study of social structure . . . A highly recommended story of family and class divides that will break readers’ hearts * Library Journal *
The biggest, most frightening, beautiful and alive novel I’ve read in as long as I can remember -- Evie Wyld
A vibrant portrait of Trinidad in the 1940s . . . [Hosein's] story, often brutal, ultimately tragic, is nevertheless lit by a wide embrace reaching beyond place and people to the bedrock. Immersive, persuasive: an elemental “portal to the Caribbean” delivered in a distinctive voice * Kirkus (starred review) *
In Hungry Ghosts, Kevin Jared Hosein takes a small place, a particular slice of Trinidad and writes it with the depth and scope that it deserves. And he does it because he knows it – truly, deeply. The result is a story that is harrowing, fiercely beautiful and deeply human. I won’t soon forget these characters or this story. I think we are going to be talking about this book for a long time to come -- Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
Hungry Ghosts is an astonishing novel – linguistically gorgeous, narratively propulsive and psychologically profound -- Bernardine Evaristo
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
[Hungry Ghosts] is beautiful, biblical, vast in scope and power, ringing with an energy that blasts from the intricate language. Hosein is a new enormous giant of fiction -- Daisy Johnson