Sacred Hunger - Barry Unsworth [307]
dilating in it. Big red pansies bloom and die on Suzanne’s vast hips as she moves below the lamp. Standing unsteady in the doorway, he confides in her massive and contemptuous kindness.
‘I give them a piece of my mind.’
‘Sure,’ she says. ‘Same as every night. You been rollin’ around again, ain’t you? They’s some meat gravy if you wants it.’
‘We come on a ship,’ he says. ‘Not here.’
‘Don’t I know it? Here, take some of this here biscuit, mop it up with.’
‘Heart’s delight,’ he sighs, standing in the doorway with his plate.
Her sweating face smiles over at him. ‘That a fine name for a ship.’
BARRY UNSWORTH, who won the Booker Prize for Sacred Hunger, was a Booker finalist for Pascali’s Island and Morality Play and was long-listed for the Booker Prize for The Ruby in Her Navel. His other works include After Hannibal, Losing Nelson, The Songs of the Kings, Land of Marvels, and The Quality of Mercy. He lives in Italy.