HUNGER AND THIRST

A young woman goes in search of a family—only to end up more alone than before.

In 1987, Ursula Major is just 16, and she’s bounced among children’s homes since her mother died when she was 7. She has a social worker, who’s equipped her for life by counseling her to eat green vegetables with every meal and offer guests a cup of tea. Ursula is hungry—for food, for connection—so she’s primed when her boss at the art school where she works announces, “We’re all family here,” mostly to get her to do the dishes after dinner. Almost immediately, Ursula comes to believe she has indeed found her chosen family among the other young people doing menial jobs: Sue Whelan, an aspiring filmmaker, is alluringly rebellious and also reckless with others’ emotions. She has the kind of family Ursula would kill for. Vince Goldie is a drunk, trying to forget his own childhood tragedies. Raymond is Sue’s brother and the object of Ursula’s affection. From the first sentence, we know that someone has been murdered, and Ursula, now an adult and a renowned artist, is going to explain what happened: “Now I have to prepare myself for whatever is coming, and must decide whether or not I let it in.” What follows is psychologically gripping, disquieting, and breathlessly suspenseful. When Ursula and Vince move into a squat in the Underwood, a house abandoned after a man allegedly killed his wife and then jumped off the roof, you might expect a certain kind of ghost story. But no, the haunting that takes place is far more complicated, as Fuller peels back the layers of Ursula’s unspeakably devastating loss. Leaving certain key events unraveled just enough, Fuller performs a feat few writers manage and makes the central mystery linger long after the novel ends.

A brilliant and truly terrifying account of trauma.