Very enticing and a fine, original take on the period. If you want a Tudor court tale then this is a good one

A fizzing, breathless love story from a terrifically talented storyteller

A tender, off-kilter love story… the novel paints a vivid picture of two very different kinds of misfit, falling in love over one dusty, teeming London summer

Hudson captures the bustle of life in Hackney and Russia with energy and a sharp eye for detail… [Her characters] have love, guts, humour and conscience. This is Love on the Dole 21st-century style

Tremendously affecting... impressively unostentatious in its instinct for a common story within a city of millions that never gets heard

An unusual love story... a refreshing change from the plethora of middle-class novel fare that simply holds a mirror to the majority of readers

A brilliant, enthralling saga, Thirst presents with such uncommon verisimilitude that scarcely a syllable appears contrived

Kerry Hudson has consolidated her position with this second novel as a writer who is prepared to face the injustices and the grimness of life, and tell of lives usually ignored... Thirst is hardly an easy summer read... but it is probably an essential one

A classy will-they won't-they romance with a difference... Sheer escapism from start to finish

Both funny and touching... Hudson's debut was highly praised and this is a terrific follow-up

There is a love story at the hear tof this one which thankfully isn't saccharine or sugar coated but real and bumpy and awkward and wonderful... her characters are real, funny and flawed... Kerry is rather a genius

Hudson is a star in the making

It’s a brave book, easily consumed in a day, and I’m in awe of Hudson’s expert demolition of the conventions of the genre

Thirst is shot through with a vein of optimism, and never lets go of its belief in the power of love, compassion and forgiveness

Unflinching yet tender-hearted study of two lowly characters teetering on the brink

This one is a juicy read