About the Author

Pat Barker was born in 1943. She is the author of Union Street, Blow your House Down, The Century's Daughter, The Man Who Wasn't There, the Regeneration Trilogy (Regeneration, The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road), Another World, Border Crossing, Double Vision, and the Life Class Trilogy (Life Class, Toby's Room and Noonday). Pat Barker lives in Durham.

Reviews

Gripping, moving, beautifully constrcted and profoundly intelligent Independent on Sunday

Revisiting World War I England to explore war and its effects on individuals and society, Barker brings back characters that readers will remember from Regeneration(LJ 3/1/92), including bisexual war hero Billy Prior and psychiatrist William Rivers. In 1918, the war was not going well for the Allies, and hysteria took root-the targets being pacifists and homosexuals, who were allegedly open to blackmail. Prior has connections to a group of pacifists who are being persecuted, and he also suffers from psychological episodes in which his personality alters dramatically. Dr. Rivers treats both Prior and other homosexuals on ``The 47,000,'' a list of all purported gays in Britain. This book lacks some of the emotional impact of Regeneration, but the plot is more complex and makes for a more compelling work. Recommended for most fiction collections.-C. Christopher Pavek, Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett, Inc. Information Ctr., Washington, D.C.