INEZ BARANAY Always Hungry. Reviewed by Kylie Mason

Tags: Australian women's fiction/ Australian women's writing/ Inez Baranay/ vampires

A glamorous, seductive take on classic horror novels, dripping with lust, danger and moral ambiguity.

Marisa Steiger, author of the bestselling Monstrous Women, has become a media darling, feted by talk shows as an expert on society’s view of women. But she has also become a spectacle, a punching bag for feminist-hating media personalities and their audiences. The publicity is priceless but Marisa is tired of being ‘misunderstood, misquoted, misrepresented’ and, coupled with the pressure to produce a successful follow-up book, feels worn down. When Monstrous Women wins a Best Translation award, Marisa is invited to Amsterdam for the ceremony. She accepts, recognising the opportunity to answer whatever it is that calls her towards Europe, the land of the old gods, and escape the demands of New York.

Also travelling to Amsterdam is Tango Sierra, an intersexual, multi-racial cult personality, who has a score to settle with Marisa. But Tango’s plan to publicly confront Marisa at the award ceremony is thwarted when a mysterious blonde stranger lures the writer away. Bette is tall, irresistible, an ageless beauty, and Marisa falls immediately under her spell:

This is a woman to study, Marisa feels, this is an influence to cultivate. There is much to learn from her and about her, knowledge that will be gently imbibed by being in her presence, a presence she seems content to bestow. How did this happen? Marisa marvels for a moment but the marvellous becomes the reality of her day, a day with a stunning, attentive companion in a city made for delight.

It soon becomes clear that Bette is much older than she appears, and that she too has a history with Tango Sierra. As Marisa is drawn into Bette’s world, seduced by the calm and quiet she finds there, she opens herself to new experiences, the kinds of encounters she has longed for without realising it. Part of this openness is fuelled by finding material for her next book, but her responsibilities back in New York seem less important in Bette’s world:

She has settled in, she is ready to start new routines, she is going to commit to an idea and really work on it. She’ll go over her notes, there must be stuff she’s forgotten. Feeling this good, this healthy, this alive, she will surely zoom in on the one animating idea that will engender a nice juicy thesis to explore, lead her to the happy realms of immersion in work. Funny, though, to think that it was that immersion that used to give her the sense she could experience happiness. What will it do now, take her out of her happiness?

Always Hungry is an intriguing book. Inez Baranay has breathed new life into vampire mythology, offering readers a philosophical conundrum in the form of Bette, through her history, customs and beliefs. Just what is it that Bette offers Marisa, and what does Marisa risk if she accepts – her old life, her career, her humanity? This is a tale of ambition and passion, of finding a place in the world and of the identities individuals create for themselves as opposed to the identities others create for them. It delves deep into the idea of fluid sexuality, of crossing gender and social barriers, and considers how morality, mortality and mutual desire intertwine in obsessive relationships. Always Hungry takes an ages-old idea and injects it into a very modern world.

Inez Baranay Always Hungry Local Time Publishing 2014 PB 145pp $17.35

Kylie Mason is a freelance book editor based in Sydney. www.kyliemmason.com

You can buy this book here.

To see if it is available from Newtown Library, click here.