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Review
'Powerful and original... An impressive work, grimly bawdy, tense and moving' --Sunday Times
`The shocking revelation of a childhood secret and the poignant search for human warmth...make this a rich and moving second novel' --Waterstone's Books Quarterly, March issue
`Cleverly constructed plots, well-drawn settings and slick sentences'
--Review, Daily Telegraph 26/3
`Hogan is only 30, but had the look of a writer of whom more will be heard.... He has taken a situation and developed it with real psychological acuity' --Mail on Sunday
`Dreamy mix of the banal and the numinous infuses a book in which the real star of the show is the place being written about... It's a persuasive central message in an elegant, compelling story...a gripping book'
--Sarah Crown, Guardian
'Hogan excels at tracing unspoken drama between characters, catching the shifts in temperature... In an unshowy way he fills the novel with rich descriptions... The pleasure of The Hunger Trace lies in its precision. Even as the pace quickens Hogan doesn't lose sight of accuracy. Like the falcons whose flight he catches so crisply, the prose is lean and strict, with movements of surprising beauty' --Ed Behrens, Literary Review
'...delicately written, with a subtle plot and some lovely comic touches'
--'Ross Raisin's Cultural Highlights,' Observer, 10 July 2011
`Ross Raisin and Edward Hogan's second novels dealt, as in each of their previous works, with the role of the outsider... The Hunger Trace, Hogan's mysterious, searing story of a Derbyshire falconer. Either would have been strong choices for the much-maligned Man Booker' --Sunday Telegraph
`The shocking revelation of a childhood secret and the poignant search for human warmth...make this a rich and moving second novel' --Waterstone's Books Quarterly, March issue
`Cleverly constructed plots, well-drawn settings and slick sentences'
--Review, Daily Telegraph 26/3
`Hogan is only 30, but had the look of a writer of whom more will be heard.... He has taken a situation and developed it with real psychological acuity' --Mail on Sunday
`Dreamy mix of the banal and the numinous infuses a book in which the real star of the show is the place being written about... It's a persuasive central message in an elegant, compelling story...a gripping book'
--Sarah Crown, Guardian
'Hogan excels at tracing unspoken drama between characters, catching the shifts in temperature... In an unshowy way he fills the novel with rich descriptions... The pleasure of The Hunger Trace lies in its precision. Even as the pace quickens Hogan doesn't lose sight of accuracy. Like the falcons whose flight he catches so crisply, the prose is lean and strict, with movements of surprising beauty' --Ed Behrens, Literary Review
'...delicately written, with a subtle plot and some lovely comic touches'
--'Ross Raisin's Cultural Highlights,' Observer, 10 July 2011
`Ross Raisin and Edward Hogan's second novels dealt, as in each of their previous works, with the role of the outsider... The Hunger Trace, Hogan's mysterious, searing story of a Derbyshire falconer. Either would have been strong choices for the much-maligned Man Booker' --Sunday Telegraph
Review
.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A wildlife park in the middle of England is the unusual backdrop to this novel which mostly features three characters all dealing with the aftermath of the owner's death two years before.
Maggie, the widow of David, is left to cope with the running of the park, while her only `friend' is the hostile Louisa who has been in love with David since they were teenagers, and who is jealous of and resents Maggie.
Louisa lives in a cottage across the field from 'the big house' where Maggie and Christopher live and constantly spies on her.
Christopher, David's teenage son from his first marriage, lives with Maggie, he is unpredictable, slightly psychotic, has a habit of speaking the truth, is obsessed with Robin Hood and knows that Louisa watches them in their `big house'.
As life goes on in the park Maggie and Louisa start to let their barriers down and gradually become close friends, confiding in each other, Louisa helping in the park as well as looking after her beloved hawks and for a while they both start looking forward.....then Adam (a man with an unusual adult occupation!) enters their life and their friendship is tested.
Louisa's romance with Adam formed quite a large part of the story ......... I really liked Adam but my main doubt was that I just couldn't see what he saw in the unfriendly, unpopular 47 yr old Louisa who lived for her hawks. It seemed an unlikely friendship to me and I found it difficult to believe.
The character I liked the most was Christopher, though I probably shouldn't as he was so weird, but he did make me laugh with his honesty. He once refused to eat meat for a while as he feared retribution from the animals in the park. Maggie took him to the cinema (from page 231) .....
""She watched Christopher bite into a nacho loaded with various mush. He closed his eyes while he chewed, and sighed with pleasure, as if he'd just taken some life-saving antidote. Crisp shards fell into his hand, which he had readied below his chin for that purpose. He pushed the crumbs in, too. Against all odds, it was fun to watch. When had Maggie last enjoyed food to such an extent? She laughed, and Christopher laughed too, unable to contain his pleasure.""
I enjoyed the writing, it was easy and simple and flowed quickly. The idea of having a wildlife park in the background was very original and his observations of the falcons and the hawks was a joy to read.
Maggie, the widow of David, is left to cope with the running of the park, while her only `friend' is the hostile Louisa who has been in love with David since they were teenagers, and who is jealous of and resents Maggie.
Louisa lives in a cottage across the field from 'the big house' where Maggie and Christopher live and constantly spies on her.
Christopher, David's teenage son from his first marriage, lives with Maggie, he is unpredictable, slightly psychotic, has a habit of speaking the truth, is obsessed with Robin Hood and knows that Louisa watches them in their `big house'.
As life goes on in the park Maggie and Louisa start to let their barriers down and gradually become close friends, confiding in each other, Louisa helping in the park as well as looking after her beloved hawks and for a while they both start looking forward.....then Adam (a man with an unusual adult occupation!) enters their life and their friendship is tested.
Louisa's romance with Adam formed quite a large part of the story ......... I really liked Adam but my main doubt was that I just couldn't see what he saw in the unfriendly, unpopular 47 yr old Louisa who lived for her hawks. It seemed an unlikely friendship to me and I found it difficult to believe.
The character I liked the most was Christopher, though I probably shouldn't as he was so weird, but he did make me laugh with his honesty. He once refused to eat meat for a while as he feared retribution from the animals in the park. Maggie took him to the cinema (from page 231) .....
""She watched Christopher bite into a nacho loaded with various mush. He closed his eyes while he chewed, and sighed with pleasure, as if he'd just taken some life-saving antidote. Crisp shards fell into his hand, which he had readied below his chin for that purpose. He pushed the crumbs in, too. Against all odds, it was fun to watch. When had Maggie last enjoyed food to such an extent? She laughed, and Christopher laughed too, unable to contain his pleasure.""
I enjoyed the writing, it was easy and simple and flowed quickly. The idea of having a wildlife park in the background was very original and his observations of the falcons and the hawks was a joy to read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In some ways, this book is rather like the birds of prey which feature in it - it's spare, hard, tough, impressive and fundamentally beautiful. Hogan's prose is deceptively simple - he makes first class writing look easy. His powers of observation are astonishing and engaging, and his characters are complex, three dimensional and never predictable. I am just so impressed with 'The Hunger Trace'. I loved it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In The Hunger Trace Edward Hogan has produced a characteristically English novel set among the hills of Derbyshire. Hogan's elegant prose makes the English county of Derbyshire a main feature of the book with its remote villages and sodden countryside.
The book's solitary and variously damaged characters try to find a solace in each other which ultimately none of them can provide. Hogan shows a rare talent for getting into the heads of isolated people who find more satisfaction in their relationships with wild creatures than with friends and neighbours.
The events in the book take place after the death of David Bryant, the creator of a wild-life park. He has bequeathed the park to his wife Maggie who bravely continues to run the park with the help of a few dedicated staff. Maggie was David's second wife and is now step-mother to Christopher, a young man with a personality somewhere on the autistic spectrum. Maggie does her best to care for Christopher as he struggles with bullying and learning problems at a local college.
Louisa lives in a cottage next to the wildlife park and lives for her falcons. She scrapes a living by exhibiting them at countryside shows. Now in her late forties, she loved David devotedly from being a teenager but her love was never reciprocated. Louisa saw various other women come and go through David's life and resents Maggie who managed to have what Louisa always wanted. Her devotion to her birds is now all-consuming and Edward Hogan writes eloquently about the work of a falconer.
Maggie, Louisa and Christopher bounce off each other causing differing levels of disruption and emotional pain in each other's lives. Christopher provides a humorous voice in what could otherwise be a rather bleak novel with his devotion to the legend of Robin Hood, his drinking binges and his search for love through dating websites. Hogan has got Christopher's voice just right, a character both lovable but annoying, even dangerous at times.
It is the sheer quality of writing which makes this such a good read. The caged animals and tethered falcons become a stark counterpoint to the locked-in lives of the four main characters. If they were set free, they would be unlikely to settle elsewhere and would no doubt return to the hub of their inconclusive, even fraught relationships. While the book focuses on these relationships, there is also drama in abundance and I pay tribute to Edward Hogan's skill in managing all these elements of his story in such a skillful manner.
The book's solitary and variously damaged characters try to find a solace in each other which ultimately none of them can provide. Hogan shows a rare talent for getting into the heads of isolated people who find more satisfaction in their relationships with wild creatures than with friends and neighbours.
The events in the book take place after the death of David Bryant, the creator of a wild-life park. He has bequeathed the park to his wife Maggie who bravely continues to run the park with the help of a few dedicated staff. Maggie was David's second wife and is now step-mother to Christopher, a young man with a personality somewhere on the autistic spectrum. Maggie does her best to care for Christopher as he struggles with bullying and learning problems at a local college.
Louisa lives in a cottage next to the wildlife park and lives for her falcons. She scrapes a living by exhibiting them at countryside shows. Now in her late forties, she loved David devotedly from being a teenager but her love was never reciprocated. Louisa saw various other women come and go through David's life and resents Maggie who managed to have what Louisa always wanted. Her devotion to her birds is now all-consuming and Edward Hogan writes eloquently about the work of a falconer.
Maggie, Louisa and Christopher bounce off each other causing differing levels of disruption and emotional pain in each other's lives. Christopher provides a humorous voice in what could otherwise be a rather bleak novel with his devotion to the legend of Robin Hood, his drinking binges and his search for love through dating websites. Hogan has got Christopher's voice just right, a character both lovable but annoying, even dangerous at times.
It is the sheer quality of writing which makes this such a good read. The caged animals and tethered falcons become a stark counterpoint to the locked-in lives of the four main characters. If they were set free, they would be unlikely to settle elsewhere and would no doubt return to the hub of their inconclusive, even fraught relationships. While the book focuses on these relationships, there is also drama in abundance and I pay tribute to Edward Hogan's skill in managing all these elements of his story in such a skillful manner.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Riveting, character driven novel.
After the death of her husband, David, Maggie struggles to run his wildlife park in Derbyshire with little emotional support. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Curiosity Killed The Bookworm
A beautifully written novel with wonderful characters
The Hunger Trace is set in a small English village where three very different people are all trying to cope with the death of wildlife park owner David Bryant. Read more
Published 2 months ago by H. Skinner
Stayed with me for long time after I read it
I read The Hunger Trace and it stayed for me for weeks afterwards. The story uncurls over the pages and the tension and action ramps up. Read more
Published 2 months ago by InquisitiveOwl
Stunning Second Novel...
From the very start of `The Hunger Trace' I had an early inkling that this would be a book for me. It opens with two women, who clearly don't like each other for reasons we don't... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Simon Savidge Reads
'nothing is forgotten'
The death of David Bryant, owner of a wildlife park in Derbyshire leaves the park with an uncertain future and turmoil in the lives of those closest to him: his younger wife... Read more
Published 15 months ago by William Rycroft
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