Hungered - by Amanda Rizkalla (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

For readers of Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street and Justin Torres's We the Animals, this lyrical, striking debut brings to life an unforgettable young narrator and the complicated, loving, cruel, and generous figures that make up her universe.

Sofia's mother promises that she'll have her own bedroom to decorate soon. Soon, too, she'll be able to see her friends, go back to school, and eat the colorful, tempting cakes in the grocery store's display case. For now, though, twelve-year-old Sofia lives with her mother and brother, Rafa, in their car. For now, Sofia sleeps in parking lots across the West Coast and her days are a blur of freeways and strip malls as her mother searches for a safe place to park for the night. For now, Sofia watches as her mother contemplates impossible choices, catches glimpses of kindness and cruelty from strangers, and tries to carve out a space and an identity for herself while grappling with her family's disintegration.

The novel captures the fault lines of an existence marked by economic insecurity, exploring what it means to come of age during a moment of displacement. Beautifully rendered and emotionally charged, Hungered is an indelible ode to survival, memory, and the search for home in its many forms. This haunting and lyrical debut marks Amanda Rizkalla as an exciting new voice in fiction.

About the Author

Amanda Rizkalla is a recent Steinbeck Fellow and Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellow. She has been a writer-in-residence at Ragdale, Hedgebrook, Djerassi, Mountain Words, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Monson Arts, and Blue Mountain Center. After graduating from Stanford University, she received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was the Kemper Knapp Fellow. Her work has received support from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, the Pruitt-Meinke Fellowship, and nominations for the Pushcart Prize.