New Releases by Pat Barker

Finalista del Premio Runciman 2025 de la Liga Anglo-Helénica Tras diez sangrientos años, la guerra ha terminado. Troya es solo un montón de ruinas humeantes, y los victoriosos griegos llenan sus barcos con los frutos del saqueo. Entre ellos, las mujeres capturadas, como la profetisa Casandra —ahora concubina del rey Agamenón y asediada por funestas visiones— y su doncella Ritsa. Mientras, la reina Clitemnestra, esposa de Agamenón, espera en Micenas el regreso de la flota. Con el corazón destrozado por la decisión de su marido de sacrificar a los dioses a su hija Ifigenia, ha pasado una larga década tramando su venganza. La única certeza es que el anhelado regreso a casa cambiará para siempre el destino de todos. «En su emocionante narración, Barker evoca un mundo teñido por el dolor de madres e hijas. El palacio de Agamenón es el material de las pesadillas, un mundo de sospechas y miedo, plagado de fantasmas de inocentes».Paula Hawkins

The exhilarating follow-up to Pat Barker's The Women of Troy and The Silence of the Girls 'Brilliant, masterful . . . Barker strips away the glittering armour of myth' Guardian After ten blood-filled years, the war is over. Troy lies in smoking ruins as the victorious Greeks fill their ships with the spoils of battle. Alongside the treasures looted are the many Trojan women captured by the Greeks – among them the legendary prophetess Cassandra, and her watchful maid, Ritsa. Enslaved as concubine – war-wife – to King Agamemnon, Cassandra is plagued by visions of his death – and her own – while Ritsa is forced to bear witness to both Cassandra’s frenzies and the horrors to come. Meanwhile, awaiting the fleet’s return is Queen Clytemnestra, vengeful wife of Agamemnon. Heart-shattered by her husband’s choice to sacrifice their eldest daughter to the gods in exchange for a fair wind to Troy, she has spent this long decade plotting retribution, in a palace haunted by child-ghosts. As one wife journeys toward the other, united by the vision of Agamemnon’s death, one thing is certain: this long-awaited homecoming will change everyone’s fates forever. 'The queen of literary historical fiction, Barker is an unflinching guide for a trip across ancient Greece' National Geographic 'Astonishingly fresh . . . Pat Barker is one of the finest novelists working today' Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam SHORTLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2025

「MeToo 時代的神話」 英國《泰晤士報》暢銷書榜冠軍 布克獎得主派特．巴克繼《沉默的希臘少女》後震撼暢銷書榜最新力作 濃墨重彩地重述人類最偉大神話中所輕率加諸在女性身上的暴力與橫逆 ★《衛報》年度選書 ★《經濟學人》選書 從女性史詩到人的悲劇。 布克獎得主派特．巴克再現朔風野大的特洛伊戰場。 當特洛伊淪陷後，希臘軍隊打算滿載戰利品，凱旋歸鄉。一切只待鼓風揚帆。無奈長久苦候不見風起。由於皮洛士拒絕安葬普萊厄姆，此般褻瀆特洛伊國王遺體的行為，觸怒諸神，於是將勝利者全軍困在廢墟。營中危機四伏。 趁著俘虜者內鬥無暇他顧，布莉塞伊絲因阿基里斯臨終前將她許配給同袍阿爾西穆斯，倖免於淪為奴隸或妓女，已懷有身孕的她，竭盡所能在希臘軍營中運籌帷幄，從年輕但叛逆的女僕阿米娜，到年邁卻無所畏懼的皇后赫庫芭，甚至拉攏祭司卡爾庫斯，尋覓一切可能性，幫助特洛伊的女人們在險境中活命。 「當偉大的阿基里斯還活著時，他連神也敢藐視。」 布克獎得主派特．巴克以直白、現代，甚至有些粗俗的語言，無情且不帶安慰，令人感到深刻的淒涼，藉由出色的人物刻劃完成一部令人無法喘息的悲劇，再度大受好評，榮登《星期日泰晤士報》暢銷書榜冠軍。 「發生在厭女的反烏托邦之中，一場激動人心的冒險。」──《觀察家報》 全書透過成為阿基里斯遺孀的布莉塞伊絲的眼睛，有力地展現了戰敗後斷瓦頹垣的特洛伊城，以及這一切對於成為奴隸的特洛伊婦女而言意味什麼：年邁的特洛伊皇后赫庫芭、王后安卓瑪姬、阿波羅的女祭司卡珊德拉，際遇殊途的特洛伊女人們，眾聲喧嘩，卻一致妒恨海倫。然而，派特．巴克不再滿足於恢復被噤聲的少女的經歷，俘虜中包括兩名特洛伊男人：王子赫勒諾斯和祭司卡爾庫斯，加上皮洛士。年輕而自戀的皮洛士，在父親光環的重壓下崩潰，成為厭女的絕世暴君。全書由布莉塞伊絲第一人稱，穿插第三人稱，雙線交錯進行，一面以同情的眼光看待婦女所經歷的巨大痛苦，一面見證社會如何助長男性對女性的暴力行為，圍繞在皮洛士的凶殘行徑，構成雙重隱喻。 本書延續《沉默的希臘少女》，作者派特．巴克融合荷馬史詩與尤里匹底斯悲劇《特洛伊婦女》，創造全新的故事，她寫出躲在宮殿陰影處倖存的特洛伊女人見證戰爭的無情與殘酷：她們目睹家園遭洗劫和焚燒、男性公民被屠殺，以及她們淪為奴隸的悲慘命運，而她們對彼此的善意終將故事帶向意想不到的發展。 「《伊利亞德》中發生的每件事也在當代世界中發生，差別只在於武器。」──派特．巴克

Troie est tombée. Les Grecs ont remporté leur guerre acharnée. Ils peuvent rentrer chez eux en vainqueurs avec leurs trophées : or, armes, femmes. Mais les dieux, offensés, les empêchent de partir, les contraignant à rester dans l'ombre de la ville qu'ils ont détruite. Pendant ce temps, les femmes arrachées à leur foyer patientent elles aussi, promises à un avenir incertain. Briséis, qui porte l’enfant d’Achille, s’efforce de forger des alliances dans le camp grec - avec la jeune et naïve Amina, avec Hécube, la reine qui a tout perdu, ou encore Calchus, le prêtre déchu - et peu à peu se dessine la possibilité d’une vengeance. Briséis a survécu à la guerre de Troie, mais les temps de paix pourraient s'avérer encore plus dangereux... Pat Barker est une écrivaine britannique qui a reçu de nombreux prix littéraires, dont le Booker Prize en 1995. Considérée comme une autrice engagée dès ses débuts, elle affine son écriture au fil du temps et trouve sa marque de fabrique : utiliser le prisme du passé pour prendre du recul et parler du présent.

Roman nominalizat la COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2018 Finalist la WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION O carte splendidă… E ca și cum Barker ar fi găsit un artefact cu un alfabet încă nedescifrat printre comorile strălucitoare ale epopeii homerice. The New York Review of Books O repovestire în cheie feministă, necruțătoare a Iliadei. Barker dă glas furiei lui Briseis, regina captivă. O, The Oprah Magazine Aproape homeric în măreția sa. Magistral și impresionant. The Economist Vorbind în numele celor care nu sunt lăsate să vorbească, Tăcerea femeilor este o carte pe care o vor citi și generațiile viitoare. The Daily Telegraph Când regina Elena este răpită de troieni, grecii pornesc pe mare în căutarea ei, asediind cetatea Troiei. Închisă în tabăra soldaților greci, se află o altă regină captivă, Briseis. Condamnată să i se supună în așternut și să fie sclava lui Ahile, bărbatul care i-a ucis familia, Briseis devine un pion în jocul amenințător între luptătorii epuizați și plini de frustrare. În secolele care vor urma celui mai faimos dintre războaie, Războiul Troian, istoria aproape că o va ignora pe această femeie, reducând-o la un detaliu neînsemnat dintr-o poveste sângeroasă ai cărei actori principali sunt niște bărbați însetați de răzbunare – dar Briseis are de spus o cu totul altă poveste… Cu o scriitura impecabilă, presărată deopotrivă cu momente de frumusețe și teroare, Tăcerea femeilor urmărește destinul unei femei extraordinare și reînvie una dintre cele mai glorioase povești ale lumii antice.

A daring and timely feminist retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of the women of Troy who endured it—an extraordinary follow up to The Silence of the Girls from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Regeneration Trilogy and “one of contemporary literature’s most thoughtful and compelling writers" (The Washington Post). Troy has fallen and the victorious Greeks are eager to return home with the spoils of an endless war—including the women of Troy themselves. They await a fair wind for the Aegean. It does not come, because the gods are offended. The body of King Priam lies unburied and desecrated, and so the victors remain in suspension, camped in the shadows of the city they destroyed as the coalition that held them together begins to unravel. Old feuds resurface and new suspicions and rivalries begin to fester. Largely unnoticed by her captors, the one time Trojan queen Briseis, formerly Achilles's slave, now belonging to his companion Alcimus, quietly takes in these developments. She forges alliances when she can, with Priam's aged wife the defiant Hecuba and with the disgraced soothsayer Calchas, all the while shrewdly seeking her path to revenge.

LA GUERRA DE TROYA FUE SIEMPRE LA GUERRA DE LAS MUJERES. Helena y su inigualable belleza, que resultó ser solo un hueso que los perros rabiosos se disputan; Casandra, cuyas profecías nadie atiende a menos que un varón las enuncie; la obcecada Amina, con la mirada fija en las ruinas, decidida a vengar la muerte de su rey; Hécuba aullando de dolor en la silenciosa orilla, como si sus gritos pudieran alcanzar los pasillos del Hades y despertar a los muertos; y Briseida, que lleva en su vientre al hijo del héroe caído... ¡Ay, las mujeres de Troya, atrapadas de nuevo en la ciega lucha de los hombres! Una mirada magistral desde la perspectiva de las no combatientes; una novela memorable y poderosa sobre el más grande de los mitos griegos por la autora de El silencio de las mujeres. Troya ha caído. Los griegos han ganado su amarga guerra. Ahora solo necesitan un buen viento para levantar velas y regresar victoriosos a casa. Pero los vengativos dioses mantienen el mar en contra, por lo que los guerreros permanecen en el limbo, acampados a la sombra de la ciudad que destruyeron, acompañados por las mujeres que raptaron. «En la Ilíada, esa oda a la destrucción causada por la agresión masculina, las mujeres son el objeto a través del cual los hombres luchan entre sí para afirmar su estatus. Las diosas siempre tienen algo que decir, pero las mortales suelen permanecer en silencio y si hablan es solo para lamentarse: por la caída de Troya, por sus hijos, padres y esposos muertos, y por su propia libertad, tomada a la fuerza tanto por los vencedores como por los vencidos». The Guardian

UNE SPLENDIDE ODE AUX FEMMES ET À LEURS COMBATS La guerre de Troie, mythe fondateur de toute la littérature européenne, commence par la banale histoire d'une reine enlevée à son époux par un autre homme. Mais, prisonnière du camp grec, une autre reine observe le destin du monde se jouer sous ses yeux : Briséis, la captive d'Achille, par qui la guerre basculera. Presque 3 000 ans plus tard, il est temps d'entendre sa voix - et à travers elle, peut-être, celle de toutes les femmes laissées muettes par l'Histoire et la littérature. UN MONUMENT DE LA LITTÉRATURE BRITANNIQUE Pat Barker est une écrivaine britannique qui a reçu de nombreux prix littéraires, dont le Booker Prize en 1995. Considérée comme une autrice engagée dès ses débuts, elle affine son écriture au fil du temps et trouve sa marque de fabrique : utiliser le prisme du passé pour prendre du recul et parler du présent. Le Silence des vaincues, son premier roman depuis de nombreuses années signe « un magistral retour en force » pour The Observer. Il a été finaliste de nombreux prix littéraires dont le prestigieux Women's Prize for fiction et lauréat du Independent Bookshop Week Book Award.

De vrouwen van Troje is een los te lezen vervolg op het bejubelde De stilte van de vrouwen en een weergaloze hervertelling van de Ilias. Troje is gevallen. De Grieken hebben de bittere strijd gewonnen en kunnen als overwinnaars huiswaarts keren, beladen met hun oorlogsbuit: goud, wapens en vrouwen. Het enige wat ze nu nog nodig hebben is een gunstige wind zodat ze de zeilen kunnen hijsen. Maar de wind blijft uit. De goden zijn ontstemd en ontzeggen de Grieken hun wens. Terwijl de strijders rusteloos wachten aan de rand van de stad die ze vernietigden, begint het verbond dat hen in de strijd bijeenhield uit elkaar te vallen: oude vetes en nieuwe irritaties steken de kop op. Briseïs, de voormalige slavin van Achilles en ooit koningin van Troje, slaat deze spanningen in stilte gade. Ze zoekt bondgenoten waar ze kan – de jonge Amina, de tegendraadse Hekabe en Calchus, de in ongenade geraakte priester – en broedt op een plan om wraak te nemen. Op meesterlijke wijze vervolgt Pat Barker haar buitengewone hervertelling van een van de bekendste mythes, in een los te lezen vervolg op het veelgeprezen De stilte van de vrouwen. 'Barker is een meester in het neerzetten van sterke scènes.' - Nederlands dagblad `Barker geeft een stem aan de vrouw'- De Standaard 'In deze roman vol legendarische namen is Briseïs de ware heldin. Barker schittert, wederom.' – Publishers Weekly 'Haar relaas over de oorlog is geen filosofische ideeënstrijd, meer een realistische Game of Thrones, aards, fysiek. Beeldend roept ze het door eergevoel, goden en onderlinge treiterijen geplaagde leven in het Griekse kamp voor je op waar de strijders na de inname van Troje wachten tot de wind gaat liggen om de terugkeer te kunnen aanvaarden.' – Trouw 'Het is geheel eigen aan Barker hoe ze met een stilistische truc als het ware een tijdsprong maakt van het antieke Griekenland naar het heden.' – Literair Nederland

GROSSER ACHILL. GLÄNZENDER ACHILL, STRAHLENDER ACHILL, GOTTGLEICHER ACHILL ... WIR NANNTEN IHN NIE SO; WIR NANNTEN IHN »DEN SCHLÄCHTER«. Briseis trifft ein grausames Schicksal: Einst Königin von Lyrnessos, findet sie sich nach der Einnahme der Stadt als Sklavin an der Seite des großen Achill wieder, dem Zerstörer ihrer Heimat und Mörder ihrer Familie. Im Heerlager vor Troja wird sie zum Spielball gelangweilter und frustrierter Krieger und Könige. Doch Briseis gibt sich mit der Rolle der Besiegten nicht zufrieden. Schafft sie es, in dieser von Männern beherrschten Welt zu überleben und Schöpferin ihrer eigenen Geschichte zu werden? Pat Barker lässt in ihrem preisgekrönten Meisterwerk diese atemberaubende Frau endlich aus der Stille treten, um ihre Geschichte und die des Trojanischen Krieges neu zu erzählen. »Eine brillante Nacherzählung des Trojanischen Krieges; bewegend, wichtig, kraftvoll, unvergesslich.« - The Guardian

Där Iliaden berättar om männen som stupade vid belägringen av Troja, vill Barker istället gestalta hur deras mödrar minns dem, hur de var som barn och den sorg de lämnar efter sig. Här styr hustrurnas och mödrarnas perspektiv, de som förbinder de skadade och tvättar liken, de som hela tiden hotas av död, våldtäkt, att bli fråntagna sina barn. "Flickornas tystnad" ger röst åt krigets och tillvarons alla tysta kvinnor. Det är både en kärleksroman och en hjältedikt där Akilles är ett ensamt barn som förlorat sin mor och aldrig slutar söka efter henne. "Flickornas tystnad" är en bok att sträcklästa.

«Il grande Achille. Il luminoso, splendido Achille; Achille simile a un dio. Ma Achille, per noi, era solo un macellaio». La guerra di Troia raccontata da Briseide, la schiava di Achille. Un romanzo memorabile e sovversivo, in cui Pat Barker dà voce alle donne relegate nelle retrovie della Storia.

LA GUERRA DE TROYA FUE SIEMPRE LA GUERRA DE LAS MUJERES «Las que restañaron la sangre de las heridas y embalsamaron a los muertos, las que dentro y fuera de los muros proveyeron de vestido y alimento a los combatientes, las mismas que fueron presa, botín y moneda de cambio, todas a quienes opacó el vacuo fulgor de los héroes y silenció la ciega y salvaje masculinidad de la batalla... La guerra de Troya fue siempre la guerra de las mujeres.» La ganadora del Man Booker Prize Pat Barker ahonda en la leyenda intemporal de la Ilíada y narra las últimas semanas de la guerra de Troya desde la perspectiva de las no combatientes; una novela poderosa y memorable sobre el más grande de los mitos griegos. La milenaria ciudad de Troya lleva una década soportando el sitio de los poderosos ejércitos aqueos, que continúan en guerra por una mujer raptada: Elena. En el campamento griego, otra mujer lo ve todo mientras espera a que la contienda se decante por uno u otro bando: Briseida. Aquiles, el guerrero más grande entre los griegos, saqueó su ciudad y mató a su marido y a sus hermanos, y la convirtió en su concubina. Botín de guerra, la joven deberá adaptarse para sobrevivir a una vida distinta a la que había llevado hasta entonces, la de las mujeres cautivas que sirven al ejército griego. Cuando Agamenón, el rey que aglutina el mando de las tropas griegas, exige que le den a Briseida, la joven se ve atrapada entre los dos aqueos más poderosos. A modo de protesta, Aquiles se niega a luchar y los griegos empiezan a perder terreno frente al enemigo troyano. Briseida no se arredra ante los horrores cotidianos de la guerra. Desde esa posición privilegiada que nadie ha tenido antes, observa a los dos hombres al frente de las tropas griegas en lo que será su enfrentamiento final, que decidirá el destino no solo de Briseida, sino de lo que acabará siendo el mundo antiguo. Pat Barker nos ofrece una obra maestra de dimensiones colosales, ambientada en el epicentro de la guerra más famosa de la literatura. El silencio de las mujeres se erige sobre su estudio de la guerra, al que ha dedicado décadas, y el impacto que tiene en la vida de las personas. «En la Ilíada, esa oda a la destrucción causada por la agresión masculina, las mujeres son el objeto a través del cual los hombres luchan entre sí para afirmar su estatus. Las diosas siempre tienen algo que decir, pero las mortales suelen permanecer en silencio y si hablan es solo para lamentarse: por la caída de Troya, por sus hijos, padres y esposos muertos, y por su propia libertad, tomada a la fuerza tanto por los vencedores como por los vencidos». The Guardian

A Washington Post Notable Book One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Economist, Financial Times Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award Finalist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction Here is the story of the Iliad as we’ve never heard it before: in the words of Briseis, Trojan queen and captive of Achilles. Given only a few words in Homer’s epic and largely erased by history, she is nonetheless a pivotal figure in the Trojan War. In these pages she comes fully to life: wry, watchful, forging connections among her fellow female prisoners even as she is caught between Greece’s two most powerful warriors. Her story pulls back the veil on the thousands of women who lived behind the scenes of the Greek army camp—concubines, nurses, prostitutes, the women who lay out the dead—as gods and mortals spar, and as a legendary war hurtles toward its inevitable conclusion. Brilliantly written, filled with moments of terror and beauty, The Silence of the Girls gives voice to an extraordinary woman—and makes an ancient story new again.

'Blow Your House Down is swift, spare and utterly absorbing - you'll probably read it, as I did, in one tense sitting' NEW YORK TIMES 'A courageous and disturbing novel' ELIZABETH WARD, WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD 'Despite its black humour, it is a deeply political book' BELINDA WEBB, GUARDIAN A serial killer stalks prostitutes with profound and unexpected consequences in this riveting novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Ghost Road. A city and its people are in the grip of a killer who is roaming the northern city, singling out prostitutes. The face of his latest victim stares out from every newspaper and billboard, haunting the women who walk the streets. But life and work go on. Brenda, with three children, can't afford to give up while Audrey, now in her forties, desperately goes on 'working the cars'. And then, when another woman is savagely murdered, Jean, her lover, takes desperate measures . . .

'Vivid, bawdy and bitter' THE TIMES 'A first-rate first novel . . . pungent, raunchy dialogue . . . passages of fine understated wit' IVAN GOLD, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Pat Barker's first novel shows the women of Union Street, young and old, meeting the harsh challeges of poverty and survival in a precarious world. There's Kelly, at eleven, neglected and independent, dealing with a squalid rape; Dinah, knocking on sixty and still on the game; Joanne, not yet twenty, not yet married and already pregnant. Old Alice is welcoming her impending death whilst Muriel helplessly watches the decline of her stoical husband. And linking them all, watching over them all, mother to half the street, is fiery, indomitable Iris.

Was macht der Krieg mit der Kunst - und die Kunst mit dem Krieg?Elinor und Toby sind Schwester und Bruder, Freunde und engste Vertraute. Im Jahrhundertsommer 1912 verbringen sie eine Nacht gemeinsam in Tobys Zimmer. Ihr Geheimnis nimmt Elinor später mit an die Slade School of Fine Art in London, wo sie Kunst studiert, während Toby im Royal Army Medical Corps in den Schützengräben Frankreichs dient. 1917 wird Toby als »Vermisst, vermutlich gefallen« gemeldet. Elinor stürzt in tiefe Trauer. Sie schließt sich als Assistentin dem Künstler und Chirurgen Henry Tonks an und beginnt, für ihn die zerstörten Gesichter von Soldaten zeichnerisch zu dokumentieren. In Tonks" Umfeld erwartet sie Aufschluss über Tobys Tod.

Het oog in de deur is het tweede deel in de beroemde Weg der geesten-trilogie van Pat Barker. In dit deel wordt luitenant Billy Prior gekweld door de vraag aan welke zijdes van verschillende medailles hij dient te leven: lafaard of held, gek of gezond, homoseksueel of heteroseksueel. De roman vertelt het moreel complexe verhaal over de gruwelijke gevolgen van de Eerste Wereldoorlog voor de menselijke geest en de Britse maatschappij in zijn geheel. De Weg der geesten-trilogie is Pat Barkers levensechte evocatie van de Eerste Wereldoorlog. De trilogie is compleet met Niemandsland en Weg der geesten.

Winner of the 1995 Booker Prize Set in the closing months of World War I, this towering novel combines poetic intensity with gritty realism as it brings Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy to its stunning conclusion. In France, millions of men engaged in brutal trench warfare are all “ghosts in the making.” In England, psychologist William Rivers, with severe pangs of conscience, treats the mental casualties of the war to make them whole enough to fight again. One of these, Billy Prior, risen to the officer class from the working class, both courageous and sardonic, decides to return to France with his fellow officer, poet Wilfred Owen, to fight a war he no longer believes in. Meanwhile, Rivers, enfevered by influenza returns in memory to his experience studying a South Pacific tribe whose ethos amounted to a culture of death. Across the gulf between his society and theirs, Rivers begins to form connections that cast new light on his—and our—understanding of war.

The Booker Prize-winning modern classic of contemporary war fiction from the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of The Silence of the Girls Recommended by Richard Osman 'One of the few real masterpieces of late twentieth-century British fiction' Jonathan Coe 'Original, delicate and unforgettable' Independent 'A new vision of what the First World War did to human beings, male and female, soldiers and civilians. Constantly surprising and formally superb' A. S. Byatt, Daily Telegraph 1917, Scotland. At Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland, army psychiatrist William Rivers treats shell-shocked soldiers before sending them back to the front. In his care are poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, and Billy Prior, who is only able to communicate by means of pencil and paper. . . Regeneration, The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road follow the stories of these men until the last months of the war. Widely acclaimed and admired, Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy paints with moving detail the far-reaching consequences of a conflict which decimated a generation. The Regeneration trilogy: Regeneration The Eye in the Door The Ghost Road

From Booker Prize winner Pat Barker, a masterful novel that portrays the staggering human cost of the Great War. Admirers of her Regeneration Trilogy as well as fans of Downton Abbey and War Horse will be enthralled. With Toby’s Room, a sequel to her widely praised previous novel Life Class, the incomparable Pat Barker confirms her place in the pantheon of Britain’s finest novelists. This indelible portrait of a family torn apart by war focuses on Toby Brooke, a medical student, and his younger sister Elinor. Enmeshed in a web of complicated family relationships, Elinor and Toby are close: some might say too close. But when World War I begins, Toby is posted to the front as a medical officer while Elinor stays in London to continue her fine art studies at the Slade, under the tutelage of Professor Henry Tonks. There, in a startling development based in actual fact, Elinor finds that her drafting skills are deployed to aid in the literal reconstruction of those maimed in combat. One day in 1917, Elinor has a sudden premonition that Toby will not return from France. Three weeks later the family receives a telegram informing them that Toby is “Missing, Believed Killed” in Ypres. However, there is no body, and Elinor refuses to accept the official explanation. Then she finds a letter hidden in the lining of Toby’s uniform; Toby knew he wasn’t coming back, and he implies that fellow soldier Kit Neville will know why. Toby’s Room is an eloquent literary narrative of hardship and resilience, love and betrayal, and anguish and redemption. In unflinching yet elegant prose, Pat Barker captures the enormity of the war’s impact—not only on soldiers at the front but on the loved ones they leave behind.

In the spring of 1914, a group of students at the Slade School of Art have gathered for a life-drawing class. Paul Tarrant is easily distracted by an intriguing fellow student, Elinor Brooke, but watches from afar when a well-known painter catches her eye. After World War I begins, Paul tends to the dying soldiers from the front line as a Belgian Red Cross volunteer, but the longer he remains, the greater the distance between him and home becomes. By the time he returns, Paul must confront not only the overwhelming, perhaps impossible challenge of how to express all that he has seen and experienced, but also the fact that life, and love, will never be the same for him again.

Trilogie over het leven van Britse soldaten tijdens en na de Eerste Wereldoorlog.

The basis for the major motion picture The Drowning from the Booker Prize–winning author of The Regeneration Trilogy and The Silence of the Girls. Out walking with his wife, Lauren, beside the River Tyne, Tom Seymour instinctively risks his life to save a young man who they happen to notice just before he jumps into the icy current. Tom's spontaneous act saves the life of someone whose past, as well as his future, he feels a sense of responsibility towards. Recently released from prison, and living under an assumed name, Danny Miller was tried for murder as a ten-year-old on the basis of Tom's testimony, and assessment of him as a psychologist and an expert witness. When Danny asks Tom to help him sort out his life—beginning with his past—Tom is drawn into a lonely, soul-searching reinvestigation of the child murderer's case. "Exhilarating moral exploration, and prose as naked and jolting as an unwrapped live wire." —Richard Eder, The New York Times Book Review "It's her canny feel for the psyche's ambiguous meanderings, more than plot twists, that generates most of the thrills . . . This author creates an atmosphere of menace worthy of a Joyce Carol Oates." —Dan Cryer, Newsday "Barker soars to new heights with this harrowing, contemporary study of fate tainted by the stench of evil." —Robert Allen Papinchak, USA Today "Barker creates a sense of menace worthy of Ian McEwan . . . Border Crossing is replete with sharp, expressive exchanges, hard poetry, and as many enigmas as implacable truths." —Kerry Field, The Atlantic Monthly

England is suffering shortages, grey bread and meagre clothes. In the climate of exhaustion and hysteria, the war nears its close and pressures fall into line, become fierce and take ugly forms.

Double Vision is Pat Barker's thought-provoking Booker Prize-winning novel of modern warfare. Provocative, intense and deeply moving, Double Vision is a powerful story of one man's quest to find redemption amidst the horror of twenty-first-century war. Returning to Afghanistan after his photographer friend is killed by a sniper, war reporter Stephen Sharkey seeks release from his nightmares in an England seemingly at peace with itself. Questioning man's inhumanity to man both abroad and at home, and whether love really can be the great redeemer, Double Vision is a searing novel of conflict in modern times. 'Full of brooding tension. Barker is one of our most significant contemporary novelists' Daily Telegraph 'Barker writes superbly. The reader is drawn on, from page to page' Economist 'Barker has a quite extraordinary ability to combine complexity and clarity and to make both seem parts of the same whole' Sunday Times 'The characters grab hold at the beginning and never loosen their grip. Barker holds us by the sheer beauty of her writing' Financial Times Pat Barker was born in 1943. Her books include the highly acclaimed Regeneration trilogy, comprising Regeneration, which has been filmed, The Eye in the Door, which won the Guardian Fiction Prize, and The Ghost Road, which won the Booker Prize. The trilogy featured the Observer's 2012 list of the ten best historical novels. She is also the author of the more recent novels Another World, Border Crossing, Double Vision, Life Class, and Toby's Room. She lives in Durham.

Twelve-year-old Colin Harper weaves together movies and real life in an attempt to create an understanding of what his father was like and what it means to be a man.