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Hunger & Thirst
Claire Fuller
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2026
Penguin Random House Canada | Bond Street Books
Zando | Tin House
320 Pages
Amazon | Goodreads | Bookshop.org
Genre: General Fiction | Horror
This book is a slow burn done right and I am here for it. It mixes horror, thriller, and a coming-of-age story perfectly. I loved reading about Ursula in a dual timeline. In 1987 she is 16 and takes a job in the mailroom of an art school. She has grown up being in a care home and finds she fits in and feels she belongs with a group of friends she makes there. They all move into a place called The Underwood and squat there. The Underwood has a very sad history. With Sue’s influence, Ursula does a dare that ends up resulting in a terribly violent accident, and Ursula is left haunted both literally and figuratively.
In the present day, Ursula is a famous sculptor but lives under a different name in London. She is very guarded and craves her anonymity. When it is threatened by a true-crime documentary maker, her past resurfaces. Now Ursula has to decide what she is scared of most: the outside threats or her own conscience and psyche.
I loved the atmospheric vibes of this book and the way the slow pace turned up the tension. All Ursula wanted to do was survive. This is a very character-driven story and it truly felt claustrophobic—that’s one of my favourite descriptors of a book. Claire Fuller always makes the mundane feel heavy and meaningful. The tone of this book is a completely bleak outlook and it takes a toll on Ursula.
The best parts of the book are the characters’ relationships and how messy they are. They felt deeply real. The writing is amazing, even with the slow bits, and it kept me engaged throughout. I can see how this would be a problem for some readers who want more action, but I appreciated it and all the internal dialogue. There are no easy answers in this story; it is dark and gritty and a bit vague, but a solid literary story about survival. What I took away from it on a personal level was more what is left of a person than what happened to the world. It isn’t a typical thriller and I liked that about it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
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