Claire Fuller’s latest novel, *Hunger and Thirst*, explores themes of loss, trauma, and the lingering presence of death through a narrative that merges social realism with elements of gothic horror. The story centers on Ursula, a young woman whose life is marked by early encounters with death and the instability of the British care system during the 1980s.

The novel begins in 1987, with 16-year-old Ursula having been shuffled through multiple children’s homes before arriving at a halfway house alongside recovering addicts and former prisoners. It is here that she secures a trial job in the postroom at Winchester School of Art, where she befriends Sue, a charismatic and reckless peer who introduces her to a contrasting world of warmth and familial chaos.

Ursula’s background is haunted by the death of her mother, who succumbed to dengue fever when Ursula was just seven, leaving her trapped behind a bathroom door for two days with her mother’s corpse. This early trauma shapes Ursula’s sense of self and her uneasy relationship with death, which continues to reverberate throughout the novel. As Ursula becomes entwined with Sue and her circle, they move into a long-abandoned property known as the Underwood, the former site of a grisly double murder.

The setting becomes a pivotal element in the story’s development, serving both as a physical space marked by decay and as a psychological landscape rife with ghostly presence and unsettling energy. Fuller's depiction of the Underwood carries echoes of classic horror, but is firmly grounded in the everyday realities of Thatcher-era Britain, where underfunding of social services left vulnerable individuals adrift.

Throughout the novel, Ursula channels her experiences into creative expression, sculpting figures that evoke themes of consumption and transformation. However, her tentative grasp on safety unravels as Sue’s influence grows darker, leading to a chilling sequence involving a séance, a reenactment of the prior murders, and ultimately, an act of violence that cements Ursula’s descent into horror.

*Hunger and Thirst* also employs a framing device in the form of a fictional documentary called *Dark Descent*, which chronologically intersperses Ursula’s narration from four decades later. This element underscores tensions between media exploitation and lived trauma, as the documentary revisits the fallout from Sue’s murder and Ursula’s role in the tragedy.

Fuller’s work draws parallels to films like *The Shining*, juxtaposing the intimate struggles of individuals on the margins with broader social critiques. The novel highlights the systemic failures of the 1980s care system and questions the reliability of memory, media, and the boundaries between reality and supernatural horror. In weaving these threads, Fuller suggests that horror can serve as a potent metaphor for societal neglect and personal dislocation.

Blending emotional intensity with a deliberately unsettling atmosphere, *Hunger and Thirst* offers a layered and often challenging portrayal of haunted lives shaped by both internal and external forces. The novel probes the fragility of happiness and the ease with which ordinary relationships can give rise to betrayal, violence, and the lasting imprint of loss.