Come and chat to PAT BARKER, about her stellar writing career, her award-winning trilogies and her latest novel, NOONDAY, our April Book of the Month, on Weds 27 April, 9-10pm

[TillyMumsnetBookClub]

Pat Barker is one of Britain's most respected and best-loved novelists. Her epic trilogy about the First World War began with the astonishingly powerful Regeneration, followed by The Eye in the Door (winner of the Guardian Prize) and The Ghost Road (winner of the Booker Prize). As definitive, detailed and deeply felt as that series, her new trilogy is equally classic. Following a group of artists who meet at the Slade during WW1, Noonday is the final part of the story (though easily also a stand-alone novel) that began with Life Class and Toby's Room. Struggling in the thick of the Blitz, Elinor is unable to paint, out all night driving ambulances while her husband Paul is dragging bodies out of rubble. Their friend Kit Neville is trapped in a paper-pushing job at the Ministry of Information, frustrated that Paul’s artistic reputation has overtaken his own, and aware of his long-buried feelings for Elinor. As the blackout darkness befuddles and confuses, and as their exhaustion warps and distorts perception, their relationships become blurred. The book is vividly atmospheric, immersed in a traumatised London and the effects of the sustained attacks. It is her expert psychological insight, however, those fleeting moments of fear or connection or compassion, that make Barker a truly outstanding novelist.

You can find out more on our book of the month page, plus get an insight into Pat Barker's own relationship to London, her childhood and kickstarting her writing career in this fascinating interview with Alex Clark in the Guardian.

Penguin have 50 copies of Noonday to give to Mumsnetters: to claim your copy please fill in your details on the book of the month page. We’ll post on the thread when all the copies have gone. If you’re not lucky enough to bag one of those, you can always get a Kindle edition or paperback copy here

We are honoured, thrilled and delighted that Pat will be joining us to answer your questions about Noonday, all her previous award-winning novels and her fascinating career on
Wednesday 27 April, 9-10pm. Please feel free to discuss the book here throughout the month and then come and meet Pat on the night, and ask her a question or simply tell her what you think of her books. It’ll be a particularly special chat, very much hope you can make it…

@addingtothenoise

Hi Pat, I really enjoyed reading this book, some of the imagery really stayed with me after finishing this book, I'm thinking particularly of the horses running through streets on fire, and wild flowers growing through the cracked walls.

What in particular drew you to write about the artists in this period of history? Did the characters come first, or was it their occupation and passion for creating which kickstarted this story in your mind? Thanks!

T

I suppose I've always been attracted to people who were both experiencing dramatic events and fully engaged with them and yet at the same time trying to stand back and express what they feel about them. In regeneration, 2 of the characters Owen and Sassoon were embroiled in the fighting but were also trying to reach a vision of what the war meant. Similarly with the war artists in the WW1 and WW2, they were both living through it and trying to articulate about what they felt about it.

I possibly think in this case it was the profession - the fact they were trying to record what they were seeing. Also I was very moved by that particular group of people at The Slade in 1914 who all thought they were going to go on and do very different things in their life but the men in particularly ended up doing exactly the same thing and you've got that situation where different artists are responding to the same stimulus and that was interesting.

Yes, Tilly, you're I think you're correct, her name was Briseis, the daughter of Bryseus of Lyrnessus.

Yes, Tilly, I think you're correct, her name was Briseis, the daughter of Bryseus of Lyrnessus.

I love that you were a library fan as a child. Me too. Any interest in writing in a similar genre for a younger audience? Some war books for a younger audience are so powerful. (Silver Sword, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, War Horse)

@Givemecoffeeplease

Do you like the character of Neville? He is very flawed and yet still appealing. And did you know the ending from the beginning?

I appreciate him. He's one of the one characters that gives energy back. It's a v mysterious business that some characters repay you for the energy you put into creating them by giving energy back - in other words they are great fun to write about and the same was true of Billy Prior in the Regeneration trilogy - always tremendous fun to write about although not necessarily the person you'd want as your best friend and you certainly wouldn't want your daughter to marry him.

@Morningbear

Good evening! Just posting my q now in case I don't make it later. I read the whole trilogy and really enjoyed it. I loved how well researched it was and learnt loads about things that were going on during the wars 'behind the scenes' that I hadn't really thought about. All of the stuff in Toby's Room about Tonks in Queen's Hospital was fascinating, and I looked up the drawings afterwards - so horrifyingly beautiful.

My question for Pat is, when you started writing Life Class, did you already have a clear idea of what would happen in Noonday, or how the lives of Elinor, Paul and Neville would pan out? And if you did, did you stick to that or did it change as you wrote?

No I had no clue! No idea at all. I don't plan very far ahead. While I was writing Life Class I didn't really know really in any detail about the Tonks portraits although the portraits are such a central feature in Toby's Room. It was only at the end of Toby's Room that I realised that I didn't want to continue in WWI. I wanted to do the big jump into the next war and meet the characters again in their middle age.

@Chapsy

Not your new novel but ... I am still haunted by the graphic descriptions of war and death in regeneration. I was probably too young and sensitive when I first read it. I still am and I say that as a history teacher. They are books I've never forgotten. I hesitate to suggest them to my students as they seem so innocent and I know the books will change the way they think.

Thank you for great writing. How on earth did you survive writing those books.

Well - I think the answer really is the first draft can really be very traumatic but the fact that you are creating is a kind of insulation against despair.

@Givemecoffeeplease

I love that you were a library fan as a child. Me too. Any interest in writing in a similar genre for a younger audience? Some war books for a younger audience are so powerful. (Silver Sword, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, War Horse)

I'd love to be a children's writer because children are the best readers. They are the ones who are so excited when they find another book by a favourite author and they're the ones who are changed by what they read. But just wanting to be a children's writer, or admiring one doesn't automatically make you one. I might try one day!

@TillyMumsnetBookClub

aging hippy, I am such a fan, I almost tried to get my 10 year old son to read Regeneration trilogy, but then decided maybe War Horse was probably more appropriate just now... Still can't wait for him to be old enough, and how lucky he is to have all these books ahead of him.

I would also like to add to frogletsmum question:

Pat, how do you find the creative process differs when dealing with a real character and creating an imaginary character from scratch? Do you find one or other more pleasurable/difficult?

The main difference of course is that you have to be accurate, not only about facts but also about he beliefs and attitudes of a real life character and you also have to be fair to them. You never have to be fair to the characters you create yourself. You can put them through hell / do all sorts of terrible things to them and it doesn't matter. I don't prefer one or the other, what's really fascinating is to get a real life character and put them in a relationship with a fictional character to draw out insights into their personality that you can't get by any other means. In Regeneration, Billy Prior is really designed to needle Rivers and irritate him and in Toby's Room, Tonks, who is a real character, is the only person who could convince Elinor to abandon her deliberate indifference to the war and get her to work as a medical illustrator in a hospital devoted to facial injuries.

Did you find it hard to write about people creating art? It is such a mysterious and internal process, I wondered if you thought it was one of the trickier aspects of the books? Your psychology is always so spot-on, I also wondered if you'd studied it at any point, or what general psychology books you'd read as part of your research?

Hi Pat- just like to say, I'm a fan!

I think Tilly already asked, but is it officially called The Life Class trilogy? (I never know whether to trust goodreads)

And my main question (apologies if this has been touched upon) what draws you to writing trilogies? Can you not quite let the characters go and are you attempted to keep going and make a whole series?

@SallySwann

I like that wartime London is the backdrop to Noonday and note that wartime, particularly the First World War, seems to be a favourite setting for your novels, so is there anything in your background, family or otherwise, that you draw upon, or has particularly influenced you?

The Dray horses on fire is a memory my husband had of life in London during the Blitz and I haven't seen that written down in print anywhere. Apart from that - male members of my family were wounded or died in both world wars which is fairly typical of people in my generation and these absences cast a long shadow.

@barricade

Thank you ever so much for answering my questions, Pat. And some discerning responses to all the other questions, too. Really great to gain a little insight into your writing process and favourites.

Another question, this time specifically about 'Noonday'. (Sorry, I realise you have loads to get through).

I'm trying to get to grips with the aftermath of the assault that Elinor suffered at the hands of Kit Neville. I realise that in the face of all the horror surrounding them, Elinor would want to push the incident to the back of her mind, but she almost seems to act like it never happened. She reacts to him amicably when they are on duty together afterwards. She is very concerned for his safety near the burning buildings, and concerned for his welfare after the building crashes down upon him. Why is this? I would have thought a part of her would be screaming for justice, possibly even vengeance. I realise that they knew each in college, and that Kit once proposed to her, but in many ways, that makes it worse, to be betrayed in this way by someone you know. After the assault, Neville states "I seem to have become ... a bit of a monster", to which Elinor replies, "You always were." I haven't read the previous 2 books, but what happened for Elinor to say this? Was it to do with Toby? And if he indeed was always "a monster" why did she sleep with him in the first place?

The actual assault by Neville on Elinor was a very difficult scene to write because it's one of those scenes where the understanding that the characters have about what is happening is not the way we would see it today. We would describe that as rape but I don't think either Elinor or Kit would have seen it that way. It's an instance where we have moved on. And I think Kit being a monster doesn't refer to any specific wicked thing he does. I think he is monstrous in his egotism and she sleeps with him because Paul has betrayed her and she needs to feel desired. She needs to be with someone who sees her as a young, desirable woman and she knows that either she or Neville could be dead the following day.

@notqueenbee

Hi Pat, I'd love to know whether you settle down to write every day - do you have a routine ??

Yes - 2 cups of tea - a second cup of tea I start work. My favourite piece of de-bunking writing routines is by Gore Vidal - who said "I have a cup of coffee, the a bowl movement then the muse joins me".

@HarrietMWelsch

Hi Pat- just like to say, I'm a fan!

I think Tilly already asked, but is it officially called The Life Class trilogy? (I never know whether to trust goodreads)

And my main question (apologies if this has been touched upon) what draws you to writing trilogies? Can you not quite let the characters go and are you attempted to keep going and make a whole series?

I am tempted to go on and make a full series which is why I kill them off!

We are sadly coming to the close of an extraordinarily fast hour, far too fast...

Thank you to everyone for all your questions, and for making this evening a very lively and informative chat.

Pat, you have been wonderfully generous and illuminating with your answers and a very heartfelt thank you for giving us your time and energy this evening. And I'm off to buy the Emily books from my local bookshop tomorrow...

I'm so looking forward to reading the Iliad-inspired book, and wish you the best of luck with it.

Many many thanks again, not just for this webchat but for your stupendous and timeless books.

Many, many thanks for your gracious replies to our questions, Pat. Wish you all the best for the future. Looking forward to reading more of your books.

:)

@thecatfromjapan

Is it too late to pst a question? I was wondering if You think the feminist movement was helpful in opening a space for a new, female writer (when you started), and how you see the terrain now.

Sorry if that's off-topic/irrelevant.

Am loving the new trilogy. Really enjoying your details. It reads as though you've researched the period.

I think certainly - the existence of Virago as a publishing house did open the possibility of being published to a great many woman writers as well as discovering great writers from the past. My first novel Union Street was published by Virago and I think Virago saw that the emphasis on women's experience in the book was something new where as mainstream publishers at that time thought 'we've done the northern working classes - we don't want more of that'.

How do I see the scene now? I think we've got past the enormous gloom and despondency of 3 or 4 years ago and I think that as long as there are enthusiastic readers out there, there will be openings for new writers.

Yes, thank you: that was really interesting and entertaining.
Really looking forward to your Bronze Age slave book.

Thank you for answering my question.
I love how you keep on getting stronger and stronger as a writer. I really am enjoying reading the results of your career.

Thanks so much for your answers Pat! Pretends didn't make confusing typo in question...

Best of luck with The Silence of the Girls or whatever it ends up being called- will definitely be reading it!

@TillyMumsnetBookClub

Did you find it hard to write about people creating art? It is such a mysterious and internal process, I wondered if you thought it was one of the trickier aspects of the books? Your psychology is always so spot-on, I also wondered if you'd studied it at any point, or what general psychology books you'd read as part of your research?

I think what I would say is that simply because artists, by definition, are concerned with visual world, or sculptors, tactile world, they are much easier to write about than writers because to be inside their heads and see the world as they are seeing it forces you to sharpen your own visual sense. You don't create a credible artist by going inside them, you create one by looking at the world through their eyes and trying to sharpen your own visual sense to the point where you can see what is fascinating them. I haven't studied psychology. My characters are a bit of me and bit of what I observe of other people, held together by spit.

Just to say I've thoroughly enjoyed it and I think the questions have been extremely perceptive and thought-provoking and its been a pleasure answering them.

I was hoping to be able to contribute to the webchat last night but sadly didn't get chance. Just wanted to say how much I loved the book and its not my usual genre but not having read the first two didn't affect my enjoyment of Noonday. It was an excellent engaging read. Thank You.

This book was very well written but I couldn't really get into and I found some of it uncomfortable to read - not my favourite topic.