“A poignant, heart-wrenching memoir.”—Publishers Weekly

“With a touch of humor and a sense of pride, Gaunt. . . . [writes] movingly of her dysfunctional family life. . . . She provides an achingly honest picture of a teenager hungrily seeking at school the approval she does not receive at home. The many full conversations are not transcripts of actual dialogue, yet they have the ring of truth—as do all these recollections of the loneliness of a girl growing up first without a mother and then without a father.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Those with an appetite for personal history will be gratified by Hungry Hill, Carole O'Malley Gaunt's moving account of her mother's death, her father's alcoholism, and growing up with seven brothers in sixties Springfield, Massachusetts.”—Vogue

“Gaunt, the only girl of eight O'Malley children, breaks the silence of an alcoholic's daughter in this remarkably moving memoir, which begins when her mother dies of cancer in 1959. . . . Gaunt's poignant story is undoubtedly not unique, but it is a family history deftly, candidly told.”—Booklist

“This gripping memoir by playwright Carole O'Malley Gaunt is . . . extremely well-written as the author spent her childhood as a mother to her ailing mother, her brothers, and her father. No reader will remain dry-eyed with this sensitive account of growing up as the designated mom.”—Harriet Klausner, Midwest Book Review

“Carole O'Malley Gaunt tells her story unblinkingly, without sentiment, leavened with humor and humanity.”—Tom Shea, The Republican

“This book should be placed in time capsules in Springfield , Mass. , and all across the country. It's more than a memoir. It's a social document, a story of a family, a document on the human heart. Since this is an Irish-American family the ingredients are almost predictable: nuns, priests, sacraments —and the battle with the bottle. What makes this book different is Carole Gaunt's wise prose. She writes with such compassion and understanding you'll look at your own family the same way.”—Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes and Teacher Man

“Hungry Hill is engaging and memorable. . . . One of the most endearing aspects of the book is its lack of guile and its feeling of authenticity—it glows with honesty.”—Madeleine Blais, author of Uphill Walkers: Portrait of a Family

“Maybe the only thing stranger than the pain families inflict upon one another is the fact that one survives it. Carole Gaunt has made a beautiful story of all that, without a false note, a word wasted, or a flinch. One is grateful for this memoir and for the author who, as a child, kept her eyes open.”—Roger Rosenblatt, author of Lapham Rising: A Novel

“A vivid portrait of the transgenerational effects of alcoholism and a courageous response to the disease. . . . The book captures the essence of the isolation, fear, and sadness of a girl who, instead of having a childhood, lived a dilemma—doing all the right things, being a good girl who realizes that everything she does she does alone or under an umbrella of shame and wishful thinking, living in a home overshadowed by the effects of alcoholism from one generation to the next.”—Maureen McGlame, director, COASA (Children of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse), Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps

“In this powerful memoir, Carole Gaunt writes of being the only girl in a family with seven brothers and an alcoholic father, following the early death of her mother. For those of us who also grew up around alcoholism, her story and insights are poignant and involving. . . .  A moving story.”—Christopher Durang, author of Christopher Durang: 27 Short Plays