Hungry Ghosts: A Novel

"The winner of the 2024 Walter Scott Prize was Kevin Jared Hosein’s Hungry Ghosts, set towards the end of colonial rule in Trinidad. When I spoke to Katharine Grant, one of the judges, earlier this year, she said it could be “a tough read, not for toughness’s sake, but because life was tough, sometimes more than tough as we learn from the backstories of the characters.” But, she added, “Kevin Jared Hosein writes with such energy, such command of his plot, such confidence, that you don’t want to look away in case you miss something. You feel the desires of the people he’s created; you can see where they might lead. You feel for them all.” Read our full coverage of the 2024 shortlist here . Of course, there are far more prizes than I have space to summarize here. Some very prestigious! Have we unfairly missed one of your reading highlights of the year? Let us know on social media. Find more of the best novels of 2024 here . Browse our coverage of the best books of 2024, in all genres, here. December 16, 2024. Updated: February 23, 2025 Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected] Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you've enjoyed this interview, please support us by donating a small amount ."

"It’s a great quote, and true. Hungry Ghosts is a tragedy, and we’re swept into it by writing that conjures a whole physical, emotional and natural world of Trinidad; you get a sense of a burgeoning place, almost overwhelmed by vegetation. Hosein write with what one critic has called “sensory maximalism”. The colours are bold. The smells waft from the page. When you close the book, you’re surprised to find yourself still at home. Hungry Ghosts is the story of a man, Hans Sharoop, born into poverty, who hopes for better things, who is optimistic, and who gets an opportunity—which he takes—but then falls prey to all kinds of temptations. His family is destroyed as a result, but he’s not a bad man, only weak. If you’re born into abject poverty, it’s hard not to fall for a dream. It’s also a book about absence, with the absent Dalton Changoor, whose business is shadily successful and who employs Hans, hanging over this book like a sinister cloud. Absent also is Hans and his wife Shweta’s dead daughter, whose name they never utter yet who is always present between them. Kevin Jared Hosein’s absences aren’t just absences, they’re characters in their own right. “At least the label is no longer pejorative. People are now proud to be writers of historical fiction” Hungry Ghosts is a tough read, not for toughness’s sake, but because life was tough, sometimes more than tough as we learn from the backstories of the characters. As these backstories unfold, we flinch. But Kevin Jared Hosein writes with such energy, such command of his plot, such confidence, that you don’t want to look away in case you miss something. You feel the desires of the people he’s created; you can see where they might lead. You feel for them all. A gripping read from striking start to tragic finish."