'Dauntingly fresh' OBSERVER

'Hot, sparkling and exciting' INDEPENDENT

'Mercurial and elusive' ADAM MARS-JONES

A. L. Barker dissects the unnerving emotions of everyday life with the sly humour and exquisite feel for language that prompted Auberon Waugh to declare that she 'writes like an angel and I love her'.

In her tenth collection of stories, Barker unfolds tales of cunning, fancy and shifting alliances. Here a young boy fosters grand illusions; a wife faces broken promises; a dutiful committee woman meets a sparky old gentleman; a witch is drowned; an intruder insinuates himself into a lonely woman's holiday; and commonplace superstition mingles effortlessly with submerged desire.

Submerged Reviews

Marries the deadpan timing of Kingsley Amis at his driest with a tinge of eerie nature-mysticism that brings Iris Murdoch to mind .... Hot, sparkling, exciting -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
Almost dauntingly fresh -- glancing, mercurial, elusive * Observer *
Her prose is like the botanical flower paintings at Kew: 17 washes precede the final glaze -- Jane Gardam * Spectator *
Glancing, mercurial, elusive -- Adam Mars-Jones
She writes like an angel and I love her -- Auberon Waugh
Barker has come full circle, and the short story reigns triumphant -- Elizabeth Berridge * Guardian *

About A.L. Barker

A. L. Barker left school at sixteen and after the war joined the BBC. Her debut collection of short stories, Innocents, won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1947 and her novel, John Brown's Body, was shortlisted for the 1969 Booker Prize. The author of eleven novels and ten collections of stories, she died in 2002.

Additional information

Sku

GOR003320967

ISBN 13

9781860499289

ISBN 10

1860499287

Title

Submerged by A.L. Barker

Author

A.L. Barker

Series

Virago Modern Classics

Condition

Used - Very Good

Binding type

Paperback

Publisher

Little, Brown Book Group

Year published

20030605

Number of pages

256

Prizes

N/A

Cover note

Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.

Note

This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us