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Hideous Kinky
Hideous Kinky
Mar 1, 2026 9:28 PM

Author:Esther Freud

Hideous Kinky

The thirtieth anniversary edition of a twentieth century classic - an unforgettable journey through 1960s Morocco, based on the author's own childhood

For fans of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, Laurie Lee's Cider With Rosie and Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love

Quirky, charming and suffused the footloose spirit of the sixties, this is the irresistible story of an English woman who decides on a whim to move herself and her two young daughters to Morocco. The ensuing adventure takes them through richly perfumed markets, dilapidated hotels and mystical Sufi retreats, via friendships and feuds, romances with nomadic street performers, hitch-hiking and nights camping by the coast - all seen through the eyes of a precocious five-year-old girl. Rediscover this transporting modern classic about the spirit of freedom, filled with the sights, smells and textures of twentieth century Morocco.

Reviews

A tour de force

—— London Review of Books

Whimsical, evocative, heartfelt... Synthesizing a blur of images, Hideous Kinky is a song of childhood exile, a paean to the troublesome beauty of life on the run

—— New York Times

Funny and appealing... It has a delightful lightness of being

—— Times Literary Supplement

Just open the book and begin, and instantly you will be charmed, then intrigued and finally moved by this fascinating story

—— Spectator

Genuine and endearing... Esther Freud is adroit at capturing the way adult follies appear to a child [and] she has a gift for unstated hilarity... Like the sword swallowers in the marketplace, she manages to make it look effortless

—— Los Angeles Times

A riveting testament to home, exile, survival, and inheritance

—— Lisa Ko, author of THE LEAVERS

As transfixing as a flame

—— Rachel Khong, author of GOODBYE, VITAMIN

A History of Burning is that rare epic that manages to retain both its sweep and its intimacy... This is a beautiful book, unflinching yet deeply engaged

—— Omar El Akkad, author of AMERICAN WAR

[Oza's] writing reminds people that vulnerability and openness are the only ways we can save each other. A History of Burning is the art we need now

—— Megan Giddings, author of LAKEWOOD

An astonishing debut

—— Shyam Selvadurai, author of MANSIONS OF THE MOON

Intimate and epic... this book is a triumph

—— Shruti Swamy, author of THE ARCHER

Ambitious in scope and dazzlingly executed, A History of Burning is a marvelous debut. A tour de force

—— Sharon Bala, author of THE BOAT PEOPLE

[A] highly accomplished debut novel... a multi-stranded, intergenerational, poly-vocal epic that charts the struggles of an Indian family over the course of almost a century

—— Economist

As bracing as saltwater... Cline possesses unmistakable talent; her bursts of genuine originality and startling insight make that clear

—— Ann Manov , Daily Telegraph

A tale of the ultimate grifter. Doused in ambiguity and foreboding

—— Imy Brighty-Potts , Independent

A new tense summer adventure

—— Stylist

This unsettling but gripping novel takes us deep into the mind of a woman living a shadowy half-life

—— Vanessa Berridge , Daily Mirror

Crucial reading for any young woman

—— Alex Peake-Tomkinson , Evening Standard

Undeniably compelling and atmospheric... a poolside-worthy page-turner

—— Sunday Express

A taut, tense novel... The Guest is a strong follow-up... Her [Cline's] prose is limpid and propulsive, sustaining an atmosphere of dread.

—— Economist

[An] arresting observational eye

—— Alex Clark , Financial Times

Cline has a crime writer's gift for revelatory storytelling, ramping up tension like an HBO pro

—— Big Issue

A searing portrayal of the precariat? Or a slick summer thriller? The answer is: both . . . you won't be able to look away

—— Laura Battle , Financial Times

Supremely readable... propulsive

—— Markie Robson , Tablet, *Novel of the Week*

A dream-like, foreboding novel and worthy follow-up to the sensation The Girls

—— i

The talented Ms. Cline . . . Her prose is drifty and wire-taut, easy on the eye, with an awful undertow of unease that never lets up. The pathology brilliantly observed by The Guest would not feel so edgy if it were not perilously close to an aspirational ideal

—— GEOFF DYER

I loved every moment of The Guest: the intensity, the control, the atmosphere, the psychological escalation, the astonishing social observation, the profound and devastating visions of the void achieved with flicks of the wrist, the way it lets nobody off the hook and yet is not without deep humanity

—— SAM LIPSYTE

Heady scent of hotsummers and dark secrets

—— The Times 'Best Books of 2023'

The wealthy clique depicted in Cline's unsettling second novel is by turns boorish and menacing - but you won't be able to look away

—— Financial Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*

A beach read that ticks all the boxes

—— Stephanie Cross , Daily Mail

[The Guest’s] atmosphere is equally apprehensive [as The Girls] and Cline’s eye for the fragility of insider-outsiders is as gimlet-sharp as before

—— Financial Times, *Books of the Year*

The Guest… [is] as relentlessly spellbinding as her debut

—— New Statesman, *Books of the Year*

Either/Or is extremely funny and delightfully ludic, as it probes the very act of reading from the point of view of confused university student Selin.

—— Anakana Schofield, Irish Times, Books of the Year 2022

I was desperately looking forward to Elif Batuman's Either/Or, and it more than lived up to it.

—— Samir Chadha , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Re-encountering Selin...felt like being reunited with an old friend.

—— Helen Charman , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Hilarious.

—— Alice Hattrick , White Review, *Books of the Year*

I greatly enjoyed the comic zing of Elif Batuman's delightful Either/Or

—— Megan Hunter , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Witty, intelligent and funny... [Selin's] inner monologue is addictive enough to read a thousand more pages of, and I can only cross my fingers that this isn't the last instalment of the series.

—— Crack

Just as funny and self-aware and clever as The Idiot.

—— Jessica Zhan Mei Yu , White Review, *Books of the Year*

Funny, wry and insightful

—— The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*

Laugh out loud…hilarious and thoughtful

—— Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*
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