What Hunger

The summer before high school stretches out endlessly for Ronny Nguyen. Her older brother, Tommy, is her opposite in every way: a golden boy, beloved by teachers and friends alike, and the first in their immigrant family poised to go to college. While their parents beam with pride, Ronny can only feel dread. With Tommy gone, she imagines the house growing quiet and unfamiliar, leaving her alone with Me and Ba, whose silences are louder than words.

Their parents speak little of their lives in postwar Vietnam—except through food. But when tragedy strikes, Ronny’s world fractures. Grief pulls the ground out from under her, severing her connection to the person she thought she was—and the family she thought she knew. Days later, at her first high school party, a boy crosses a line. In the aftermath, something awakens inside her: a force she doesn’t understand, one that comes with an overwhelming hunger for raw meat—a craving that feels both ancient and impossible to resist.

As this dark power grows, Ronny must confront what she’s becoming—and whether this hunger will consume her or carry her toward something new.