Okay, Thirsty Ghosts is not your average ghost story. It’s raw, poetic, and totally haunting—but not in the jump-scare way. Emer Martin dives deep into the lives of women who’ve been silenced, erased, or forgotten, and gives them voice through this eerie, lyrical narrative that feels like it’s being told from the edge of a dream.

The writing? Gorgeous. It’s the kind of prose that makes you reread sentences just to savor them. And the themes—grief, motherhood, exile, identity—are woven so delicately that you don’t even realize how hard they hit until you’re sitting there, stunned.

It’s perfect if you want something atmospheric and emotionally rich, with just enough surreal edge to keep you slightly off balance. Trust me, you’ll finish it and feel like the ghosts are still lingering in the room. Read it when you want to feel haunted in the best possible way.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Lilliput Press for this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

I DNF'd this book around 11% in. It wasn't badly written in any way, I just very quickly realized that I didn't like the format and tone of the book and decided to put my time elsewhere. It just isn't a book that I would enjoy personally.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. These opinions are completely my own.

I did not realize this novel was a sequel and was pretty lost upon reading it. Sadly I could not finish it this time.

Unable to finish due to the ARC having it written every couple paragraphs in huge font that this is an ARC and not to be distributed. This formatting made it incredibly difficult to read, so I could not finish. Unfortunate because I did really want to read this novel. rating 3/10 as to not mess up any ratings based on this

i didn’t expect this to be a direct sequel to ‘the cruelty men’ going into it, but i’m so happy that it was! i really adored getting to pick up where it left off & follow a new set of characters throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. i particularly enjoyed the focus on the north and the troubles, as well as its fascinating depiction of the jewish-irish community. deirdre’s pov was my favourite, i think, but martin’s second novel is just as polyphonic and poetic as the first one, so it’s hard to pick one, really. i thoroughly recommend this one!