Woman, Eating

Claire Kohda

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Virago Press Ltd
29 March 2022

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Horror & ghost stories; Undead; Vampire Paranormal; Fantasy

'Absolutely brilliant - tragic, funny, eccentric . . . Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own' Ruth Ozeki, Booker-shortlisted author of A Tale for the Time Being

Lydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try sashimi, ramen, onigiri with sour plum stuffed inside - the food her Japanese father liked to eat. And then there is bubble tea and the vegetables grown by the other young artists at the London studio space she is secretly squatting in. But Lydia can't eat any of this. The only thing she can digest is blood, and it turns out that sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her vampire mother for the first time - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.

Then there are the humans: the people at the gallery she interns at, the strange men who follow her after dark, and Ben, a goofy-grinned artist she is developing feelings for. Lydia knows that they are her natural prey, but she can't bring herself to feed on them.

If Lydia is to find a way to exist in the world, she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage, and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans. Before any of this, however, she must eat.

By: Claire Kohda
Imprint: Virago Press Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 214mm, Width: 136mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 260g
ISBN: 9780349015620
ISBN 10: 0349015627
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 29 March 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Claire Kohda is a writer and musician. She reviews books for publications including the Guardian, TLS, Observer and Spectator, specialising in books from and about East Asia. As a violinist, she has played with musicians and ensembles including Jessie Ware, RY X, Pete Tong, the London Contemporary Orchestra and The English Chamber Orchestra, and on various film soundtracks.

Reviews for Woman, Eating

Absolutely brilliant - tragic, funny, eccentric and so perfectly suited to this particularly weird time. Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own in a way that feels fresh and original. Serious issues of race, disability, misogyny, body image, sexual abuse are handled with subtlety, insight, and a lightness of touch. The spell this novel casts is so complete I feel utterly, and happily, bitten * Ruth Ozeki (2021) * Unsettling, sensual, subversive, Woman, Eating turns the vampire trope on its head with its startlingly original female protagonist, caught between two worlds. It is a profound meditation on alienation and appetite, and what it means to be a young woman who experiences life at an acute level of intensity and awareness. Claire Kohda's prose is biting, yet lush and gorgeous. I was uncomfortably smitten * Lisa Harding, author of BRIGHT BURNING THINGS (2022) *