22 December 2016
Toby’s Room
by Pat Barker
reviewed by Neil Dunlop
One hundred years ago they did not know that they were only half way through the ghastly war that was engulfing Europe. Pat Barker takes you to the heightened emotions and rapid changes in the social atmosphere that the Great War created, drawing you into the lives of a small group of artists from the Slade school in London. Their varied social backgrounds add ferment to a mix that is as compelling as Pat Barker’s prose is sparkling.
This is an easy read that still engages you with the changing issues and makes you face the horrors of the First World War and its deep impact on young and not-so-young lives. Their dark secrets and wandering loves weave a spell and there is even an element of ‘who done it?‘ as the plot unfolds. Cleverly weaving the artist’s studio, the battlefield and the hospital, the life of the young protagonists will have you gripped.
Published by Hamish Hamilton & Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-241-14457-2 & ISBN 978-0-241-14522-7, first published 2012.
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