Set in colonial Trinidad and steeped in a brooding, ominous atmosphere, Hosein's novel charts the increasingly toxic interrelationship between the wealthy and entitled Changoors and the poverty-stricken families that work the land in the shadow of their farm.

The music was still playing when Dalton Changoor vanished into thin air . . .

On a hill overlooking Bell Village sits the Changoor farm, where Dalton and Marlee Changoor live in luxury unrecognisable to those who reside in the farm's shadow. Down below is the barrack, a ramshackle building of wood and tin, divided into rooms occupied by whole families. Among these families are the Saroops - Hans, Shweta, and their son, Krishna, who live hard lives of backbreaking work, grinding poverty and devotion to faith. When Dalton Changoor goes missing and Marlee's safety is compromised, farmhand Hans is lured by the promise of a handsome stipend to move to the farm as watchman. But as the mystery of Dalton's disappearance unfolds their lives become hellishly entwined, and the small community altered forever.

Hungry Ghosts is a novel about violence, religion, family and class, rooted in the wild and pastoral landscape of colonial central Trinidad.