'Looking straight at the world'

 

“Fiction should be about moral dilemmas that are so bloody difficult that the author doesn't know the answer.” – Patricia Barker

 

Born on this date in 1943, Barker is an English writer whose Regeneration Trilogy collectively has been cited among the 10 Best Historical Fiction works in all of English literature.  The Trilogy – Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, and The Ghost Road – explores the history of the First World War by focusing on the aftermath of trauma.   Ghost Road also was cited for the prestigious Booker Prize, awarded annually for the best single work of English language fiction.

 

A native of Yorkshire, Barker was focused on a career in international history before turning to writing in her mid-30s.  After early failures (her first 3 novels were rejected), she broke onto the scene in 1982 with Union Street, winner of the Fawcett Society Award for Fiction   She then won the Guardian Fiction Prize for Eye in the Door before setting out to write the “Regeneration” books.   

 

She’s now authored 16 books, the most recent being 2024’s The Voyage Home, in her “Trojan War Series.”

   

“When writing about historical characters I try to be as accurate as possible and, in particular, not misrepresent the view they held.   With a real historical figure you (must) be fair,” she noted. 

 

“Looking straight at the world is part of your duty as a writer.”