Synopses & Reviews
A tale of both broad global events and intimate lives, this dazzling debut spans 60 years from British Hong Kong to Paris, England, and postcolonial Hong Kong Alice Safford is a lost soul. Raised in Hong Kong by a monstrous mother and high-ranking father, she is neglected by her parents and indifferent siblings. Twenty-five years later during the Japanese occupation, Lin Shui, a young Chinese girl, was raped and murdered. Now, as a "Hungry Ghost," she finds the perfect host from whom to feed, returning with Alice to her home on the Peak. Together, entanged in the Saffords' web of dark secrets and desperate lies, they unleash chaos. Against a background of political unrest and familial breakdown, Alice's ghostly entourage swells alarmingly. Craving peace, she flees to England, then France, only to find her mischievous "Hungry Ghosts" have accompanied her. With its dazzling array of characters and numerous twists and turns in fortune, this remarkable tour de force of the imagination is full of instantly memorable characters whose lives intermesh and boil over in a cauldron of domestic mayhem, unleashing unworldly spirits into the troubled air.
Review
"A stunning debut . . . an intriguing combination of the supernatural, domestic drama and colonial politics, bringing to mind both the work of both E.M. Forster and Sarah Waters. 'Deft' is often an overused word in reviews, but alas, it is perfect to describe the skill with which Berry writes." —Globe and Mail
Review
"Berry's prose is as lush, beautiful and tropical as the most humid day in Hong Kong . . . A dazzling and assured debut." —Bookbag
Synopsis
'A stunning debut' Woman & Home
Winner of Amazon's 'Rising Stars' competition
Shortlisted for The Commonwealth Writer's Prize 2010
Shortlisted for The Waterstones Book Circle Award
Shortlisted for The Desmond Elliott Prize
Japanese occupied Hong Kong, 1942.
Raped then murdered, Lin Shui's 'Hungry Ghost' clings tenaciously to life. Holing up in a hospital morgue, destined to become a school, just in time she finds a host off whom to feed. It is 12-year-old Alice Safford, the deeply-troubled daughter of a leading figure in government. The parasitic ghost follows her to her home on the Peak. There, the lethal mix of the two, embroiled in the family's web of dark secrets and desperate lies, unleashes chaos.
All this unfolds against a background of colonial unrest, riots, extremes of weather and the countdown to the return of the colony to China. As successive tragedies engulf Alice, her ghostly entourage swells alarmingly. She flees to England, then France, in a bid to escape the past, only to find her portable 'Hungry Ghosts' have accompanied her. It seems the peace she longs for is to prove far more elusive that she could ever have imagined.
The Hungy Ghosts is a remarkable tour-de-force of the imagination, full of instantly memorable characters whose lives intermesh and boil over in a cauldron of domestic mayhem, unleashing unworldly spirits into the troubled air.
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'As heart-rending as it is innovative, The Hungry Ghosts heralds Berry as an original new voice in fiction' Time Out
'This is a novel as breezy as the best summer reads, yet secrets and deadly jealousy seethe at its core...engrossing' Daily Mail
'A stunning debut...Epic in scope and voice...so skilfully crafted, and the writing so elegant, it's hard to believe it is a first novel' Globe and Mail
' A] brilliant, brittle portrayal of colonial Hong Kong' Psychologies
'The vivid, sensory depictions of Hong Kong circa 1970 ignite this almost unrelentingly sad story, and Berry's easy way of switching between different narrative voices from chapter to chapter is impressive' List
About the Author
Anne Berry was educated in Hong Kong and is a former journalist for the South China Morning Post. This is her first novel.