Woman, Eating cover art

Woman, Eating

'Absolutely brilliant - Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own' Ruth Ozeki

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Woman, Eating

By: Claire Kohda
Narrated by: Katie Leung
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.79

Buy Now for £15.79

LIMITED TIME OFFER

£0.99/mo for 3 months - terms apply. Offer ends 24 August 2026.
A Best Book of the Year in HARPER'S BAZAAR, BBC, THE NEW YORKER, GLAMOUR, GAL-DEM and HUFFPOST

'Witty and thought-provoking' Stylist
'Blistering' Glamour
'Unusual, original and strikingly contemporary' Guardian
'Absolutely brilliant' Ruth Ozeki
'A gripping contemporary fable about embracing difference' The Times
'A wholly 21st century take on bloodsucking' Observer

Lydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try sashimi and ramen, onigiri and udon - the food her Japanese father liked to eat - but the only thing she can digest is blood. Yet Lydia can't bring herself to prey on humans, and sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her Malaysian-British mother for the first time and trying to build a career as an artist - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.
If Lydia is to find a way to exist in the world, she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans. Before any of this, however, she must eat.


'It's Kohda's exploration of Lydia's inner world, the pain and longing she feels as an outsider, that makes Woman, Eating such a delicious novel' New York Times Book Review

'A profound meditation on alienation and appetite, and what it means to be a young woman who experiences life at an acute level of intensity and awareness' LISA HARDING

'What Stoker did for the vampire at the end of the nineteenth century, Claire Kohda does for for it in our own era' TLS©2022 Claire Kohda Dark Humour Fiction Historical Fiction Horror Literature & Fiction Satire World Literature Scary Fantasy Comedy Paranormal
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

Absolutely brilliant - tragic, funny, eccentric and so perfectly suited to this particularly weird time. Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own in a way that feels fresh and original. Serious issues of race, disability, misogyny, body image, sexual abuse are handled with subtlety, insight, and a lightness of touch. The spell this novel casts is so complete I feel utterly, and happily, bitten (Ruth Ozeki)
Witty and thought-provoking
Unsettling, sensual, subversive, Woman, Eating turns the vampire trope on its head with its startlingly original female protagonist, caught between two worlds. It is a profound meditation on alienation and appetite, and what it means to be a young woman who experiences life at an acute level of intensity and awareness. Claire Kohda's prose is biting, yet lush and gorgeous. I was uncomfortably smitten (Lisa Harding, author of Bright Burning Things)
Blistering . . . Tells us a lot about the ways we're all searching for belonging
A modern day vampire thriller that also covers race, social isolation, unrequited love and parental loyalty . . . Lydia battles not only her vampire hunger but also to find her place in the world
We've seen sexy vampires, scary vampires and psychic vampires, but never one quite like the one in this ambitious debut. Lydia is a twenty-three-year-old, mixed-race artist whose appetite can only be sated with a tall serving of blood. With wit and a poet's eye, Kohda examines cravings, desire and emptiness
The most unusual, original and strikingly contemporary vampire novel to come along in years
A vampire book that will scrub any trace of Twilight from your mind - Claire Kohda's debut follows a young vampire dealing with all kinds of hunger: for acceptance, for artistic success, and for sushi
A surefooted, art-filled and wholly 21st-century take on bloodsucking
Meaningful and illuminating.... The vampire novel has been done many ways, but Woman, Eating, Claire Kohda's intelligent and irreverent take, makes for an enjoyable read
What Stoker did for the vampire at the end of the nineteenth century, Claire Kohda does for it in our own era
A playful debut that pumps fresh blood into the horror genre . . . [It] playfully revitalises a tired tradition, riffing on its clichés while delivering a gripping contemporary fable about embracing difference and satisfying hunger
The way food wends its way throughout this piece is such a fascinating way to explore hunger, various appetites, and even identity. I regret to inform you that this one's not out until the spring, but I believe it's well worth the preorder
Woman, Eating puts a deliciously fresh spin on a vampire narrative, while mining serious themes of race, misogyny and body image with pitch-perfect subtlety (Waterstones)
All stars
Most relevant
A great story & narrator but did anyone edit it? The narrator re reading lines jolts the reader from immersion in the story to the reality that someone is reading this aloud. Feel the editing has let the author, narrator & audience down a bit.

Good story but disappointing editing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this book was somber and deeply human disguised in the skin of a vampire novel.
it’s less about horror and more about the hunger we all carry: to belong, to be seen, to feel at home in our own skin. A little slow at times, but the hauntingly gorgeous writing and themes honestly make up for it

beautifully human

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great set up & a vaguely original take on a much exploited genre. But then it goes absolutely nowhere. I understand this is probably the point and an interesting metaphor about being a creature that never ages & sees & does it all. And yet it’s just boring.

Dreary & depressing workout much to say

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It was just getting good. But then it was over and just left me wanting. It feels more like a half formed short story. Also, the recording has some repeated lines that I doubt a written in the book. I'm likely to return this.

It was just getting good. But then it was over and

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
i wished she ate Ben, he was a bitch! the story was interesting but kinda slow, its all vibes, little plot. but i enjoyed it nonetheless. finished this during my vacation in Gdansk, a quite fitting place to be while reading/listening about a vampire's desire & thirst for humans blood

are too little men, and took too long to eat

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.