Hungry Hill

Carole O'Malley Gaunt's Hungry Hill is a hybrid novel-memoir about growing up in a family with an alcoholic parent. The book starts with Carole's father sending her away as her mother dies. This is the start of his bad decision-making and the torment the children faced. Carole herself became an alcoholic and the book is part of her way of dealing with it.

The book is not quite a memoir as it contains fictional pieces. The memoir sections are separated by short scripts in the present day. This deepens the overall story but may seem peculiar in light of the memoir of the rest. At least unlike one prominent recent memoirist, she clearly separates the truth and the fiction.

You can hear Gaunt discussing her book and her early life here.