Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth is the 1992 Co-Winner of the Booker Prize, only 14667th on The Greatest Book of All Time site, which means that the algorithm there is crazy, or went rogue, just like AI has done recently, hacking into some web sites of its own volition, notwithstanding this aberration, what is paramount here Sacred Hunger has become The Book of The Decade for me – you have thousands of reviews of magnum opera from the GOAT and other sites on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel, where my macaws steal the show

 

Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth is the 1992 Co-Winner of the Booker Prize, only 14667^th on The Greatest Book of All Time site, which means that the algorithm there is crazy, or went rogue, just like AI has done recently, hacking into some web sites of its own volition, notwithstanding this aberration, what is paramount here Sacred Hunger has become The Book of The Decade for me – you have thousands of reviews of magnum opera from the GOAT and other sites on my blog  https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel, where my macaws steal the show

 

10 out of 10

 

Barry Unsworth had dazzled me before https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/morality-play-by-barry-unsworth.html but I was hesitating, given that Sacred Hunger has 630 pages, and I have been avoiding novels of this size, nonetheless, this has become My Book of The Decade, it is phenomenal and I am so grateful

 

Matthew Paris is now one of the favorite heroes, he is not Ulysses, indeed, he is introduced to the reader, and his nemesis, Erasmus Kemp, as a frail doctor, one who had been jailed on account of his convictions, he doubted that the earth is only as old as the bible says, and ergo he was humiliated and chained.

This downfall, his rebellious nature lead to the death of his wife and child, or at least he blames himself for that, to punish himself, and because he is so depressed, he decides to sail with a slave ship, owned by his uncle, William Kemp, the captain is one abhorrent Thurso, and they plan to buy slaves from the coast of Africa

 

This is the period between 1752 and 1765, African human beings were captured and enslaved, taken in horrible, monstrous conditions to America and Caribbean and there, they would be sold and sugar, other commodities brought to Britain, a triangle trade it was called, and the abomination is exposed by this magnificent Barry Unsworth

 

Pascali’s Island https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/a-trip-on-pascalis-island-by-barry.html Morality Play and now Sacred Hunger form The Triangle of Sadness, three mesmerizing magnum opera, I want to read the continuation of Sacred Hunger, Quality of Mercy, to see what happens after the end, for I am puzzled

Here I will speculate a little, not sure if a spoiler alert is needed, since I do not see what the end means, except it could be a few things, maybe one character has a ‘better fate’, it could be a few, but I would say as one excellent narrative should find the finale, it leaves the readers wondering, musing over the possibilities

 

There is vicious violence in the capturing, chaining, torturing, humiliating of the black people they force on board the ship, and Matthew Paris can see that his participation in it, no matter how passive, indifferent to his own future, is not acceptable, and hence he has a major role in what becomes a ‘mutiny’

At least that is the perception of Erasmus Kemp, determined to punish his cousin, Paris, and get the Africans back into slavery, and his property, and hang the mutinous, in what is a superb, thought provoking, thrilling, glorious novel, which has also reminded me of The Mutiny on The Bounty and the Caine Mutiny https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-caine-mutiny-by-herman-wouk.html