The Hungry Season

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice | A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year | Finalist for the 2024 Biographers International Plutarch Award | Longlisted for the 2023 California Book Awards | Shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize | Longlisted for the 2023 Northern California Book Awards

• “Lyrical … Ia’s story has real suspense to it… Hamilton is a master observer, as attentive to Ia’s world as Ia is to her seedlings.” 
  New York Times
• "The Hungry Season is a deeply reported and intricately narrated story of displacement, homelessness, and identity. Hamilton crafts an intimate, searing portrait of one marginalized woman, devastated by politics and poverty, patriarchy and tradition, wars and colonialism, and the resilient way she finds solace and strength in one thing that brings her home: rice." 
  Suki Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Without You, There Is No Us and The Interpreter
• “I can’t recall any telling of the refugee’s story with so much depth, texture, and heart. Lisa M. Hamilton is a devoted, inspiring listener and The Hungry Season shines with empathy. I loved this book.” 
  Ted Conover, National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author of Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing and Cheap Land Colorado
• “The Hungry Season reads like a novel while offering an eyewitness account of Laos's history and a vivid portrayal of one remarkable life. Ia Moua’s incredible tale of survival puts our daily problems in perspective and reminds us of the resilience of the human spirit and the power of defining our own paths. A must-read." 
  Le Ly Hayslip, author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War, Woman of Peace
• “The Hungry Season is a rare feat of reportage. Hamilton devotes herself so completely to learning the story of Ia Moua that there seems to be no barrier between writer and subject—the two voices have fused. The result is transcendent. It does not happen often, that the best of nonfiction reads like the best of fiction. This is that sublime book.” 
  Mark Arax, bestselling author of The Dreamt Land and The King of California
• “Hamilton writes with precision and grace about displacement, family ties, and how the human connection to land—and what grows there—can serve as a lifeline. This is a tremendously reported story about a tremendous life.” 
  Lauren Markham, author of The Far Away Brothers
• “A radiant work of compelling portraiture. . . . a brilliant narrative that blends an intimate story into the larger cultural, political, and agricultural history of Laos and the Hmong people. Comparisons to Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers (2012) are certainly apt, and book clubs will quickly embrace the stark humanity in this unforgettable title.” 
  Booklist (starred review)
• "Sensitive and carefully written... A deeply reported story of aspiration and desperation." 
  Kirkus (starred review)
• “An intimate, thoughtful portrait of a Hmong family's journey from Laos to Thailand and eventually to California…Extensively researched, nuanced, and compassionate, The Hungry Season is a detailed look at an immigrant experience often overlooked. Hamilton's gripping narrative will leave readers better educated about the recent history of Southeast Asia and awed by Ia's grit, humor, and dedication to the family that surrounds her and the family she left behind.”
  Shelf Awareness