ANNE BERRY'S novel, The Hungry Ghosts, is as much about disfunctional families as it is about growing up in Hong Kong or being haunted.

In fact, the 'ghosts' that haunt Alice Safford, are clearly a metaphor for the ambivalence, hatred, ignorance and lies that lace her relationships with her family.

Set during the raucous period of Hong Kong's history that morphs from Colonial times to the hand-over to China, Alice's story also mirrors the political and social upheaval of the times.

Alice is born an 'Expat Kid', travelling around the world following her father's job with the British government. Eventually the family arrives in Hong Kong and Alice's mother settles the family into a life of languid luxury.

It is Myrtle, Alice's mother, and her ambivalent attitude towards all her children – Jillian, Nicola, Alice and Harry – who is the hard nut around which the family attempts to mold itself.

Ralph, their father, is a somewhat peripheral figure – much as men of his class and age were – dedicated to work and unsure how to express his love for the children.

Myrtle never really wanted children and her ambivalence curdles into distaste, warping the lives of her family. To say Myrtle is evil, is somewhat of an understatement.

It is the dismissiveness, the distaste, you feel coming from this character that makes the reader pity the children and forgive their misbehaviour. Myrtle may not physically hurt her children, but she certainly damages them; psychologically and emotionally.

However Berry has structured the novel so that each character gets an opportunity to have 'their say', so to speak. The chapters are prefaced with a name and date, giving their version of events.

Even Myrtle is allowed an opportunity to offer insight into her character in an attempt, perhaps, to make her more sympathetic.

In some cases there are a couple of different perspectives of the one event, and they are mainly chronological, so it's not irritatingly full of flash backs.

One of the characters that Berry uses is the ghost of a Chinese girl killed during World War II. The ghost adds a supernatural dimension to the story, but really she is, in many ways, Alice's voice.

Alice is what my grandmother would have called 'fey'. She's not entirely a part of her world, which is why the ghost finds her so attractive.

She doesn't seem to fit in; not with her family, not with her peers and not, later, with people who do love her. Alice is burdened by others' expectations and a seeming inability to make a decision.

Quite possibly Alice could have used a good shrink and some decent anti-depressants, but of course it just wasn't the 'done thing'.

Through all her trials and tribulations – some of which are indeed quite shocking – Alice continues to attract 'hungry ghosts'. The Chinese belief in ghosts who visit every year to remind their ancestors they existed, is cleverly wrapped into Alice's story.

Alice's ghosts are tied to her emotions – guilt, confusion, depression and sadness – and it's only once she has come to terms with her life that she will be able to free herself from the ghosts who have followed her all her life.

The Hungry Ghosts is very well-written book; the prose is tight, the language appropriate for characters and period and the emotions have the depth and heft of reality.

Berry manages to make the reader care about the difficulties of one little girl's life and keeps us interested in rooting for her.

One wishes Alice well and wishes her evil mother to the bottom of the deep blue sea; but Berry's ending is even more appropriate than that.


The Hungry Ghosts by Anne Berry is published by Blue Door, an imprint of Harper Collins publishers and is available at good book stores and online.