Hungry Ghosts: Winner of the 2024 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
English
By (author): Kevin Jared Hosein
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* A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK FOR 2023 *
* WINNER OF THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2024 *
A shimmering slice of Trinidadian gothic THE TIMES
An astonishing novel BERNARDINE EVARISTO
Deeply impressive HILARY MANTEL
The music was still playing when Dalton Changoor vanished into thin air...
On a hill overlooking Bell Village sits the Changoor farm, where Dalton and Marlee Changoor live in luxury unrecognisable to those who reside in the farms 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, who live hard lives of backbreaking work, grinding poverty and devotion to faith.
When Dalton Changoor goes missing and Marlees safety is compromised, farmhand Hans is lured by the promise of a handsome stipend to move to the farm as watchman. But as the mystery of Daltons disappearance unfolds their lives become hellishly entwined, and the small community altered forever.
Hungry Ghosts is a mesmerising novel about violence, religion, family and class, rooted in the wild and pastoral landscape of 1940s colonial central Trinidad.
A 2023 highlight for: Financial Times * Guardian * Evening Standard * Daily Mail * BBC News