Hunger and Thirst

Brought to you by Penguin.

FROM THE COSTA AWARD-WINNING, WOMEN’S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF UNSETTLED GROUND

1987: After a childhood trauma and years in and out of the care system, sixteen-year-old Ursula finds herself with a new job in the postroom of a local art school, a bed in a halfway house, and—delightfully— some new friends, including wild-child, Sue. When Ursula is invited to join a squat at The Underwood, a mysterious house whose owners met a terrible end, she can’t resist the promise of a readymade, hodgepodge family.

But as Sue’s behaviour and demands become more extreme, Ursula who has always been hungry—for food—and more importantly for love, acceptance and belonging, carries out her friend’s terrible dare. It's a decision that will haunt her for decades.

Thirty-six years later, Ursula is a renowned, reclusive sculptor living under a pseudonym in London when her identity is exposed by true-crime documentary-maker who is digging into an unsolved disappearance. But it is not only the filmmaker who has discovered Ursula’s whereabouts, and as her past catches up with her present, Ursula must work out whether the monsters are within her or without.

From critically acclaimed and award-winning author, Claire Fuller, Hunger and Thirst is a compelling and chilling tale of loneliness and female friendship, of the dangerous line between wanting and needing, and of how far a person will go to truly belong.

'Atmospheric, psychologically vivid, and unputdownable' ALICE WINN, author of In Memoriam

'I was enthralled, rapt, utterly unable to put this book down. Claire Fuller, a master of psychic suspense, has done it again' LINDSAY HUNTER, author of Hot Springs Drive

'Harrowing and tender ... 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 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026