The Fiction of Pat Barker

Book excerpt: Pat Barker is one of the most important authors of her time. Her fiction has won many awards – including the Booker Prize for The Ghost Road, the last novel in her celebrated Regeneration trilogy – and has attracted much critical attention. This stimulating Guide examines the key critical responses to the full range of Barker's fiction, from newspaper reviews and journal articles to revealing interviews and book-length scholarship. Merritt Moseley also explores the central themes which run through Barker's novels and the criticism, such as the issues of gender, class, social realism, violence and trauma. Tracing the development of Barker's fiction through the surrounding critical works, this is an indispensable volume for anyone with an interest in one of Britain's most popular and widely-studied contemporary writers.