Pat Barker

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

New York

A masterfully written World War I-era novel about the secrets between a brother and sister, from the Booker Prize-winning author of the Regeneration Trilogy. It is 1917, and Elinor Brooke, a young painter, is studying art in London while her beloved brother Toby serves on the front as a medical officer. When Toby goes missing and is presumed dead, the devastated Elinor refuses to accept it. Then she finds a letter hidden among his belongings; it reveals that Toby knew he wasn’t coming back and implies that his friend, medic Kit Neville, knows why. But Kit has been horribly disfigured and is reeling from shell shock. While Elinor tries to piece together the mystery of what happened to her brother, she uses her drawing skills to aid in the surgical reconstruction of those who have suffered unspeakable losses—of their faces, their memories, their very minds.

Toby's Room

74d261b0-ba80-4461-a939-8373841f816a-1

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Florida

From Booker Prize winner Pat Barker, a masterful novel that portrays the staggering human cost of the Great War. Admirers of her Regeneration Trilogy as well as fans of Downton Abbey and War Horse will be enthralled.

With Toby's Room, a sequel to her widely praised previous novel Life Class, the incomparable Pat Barker confirms her place in the pantheon of Britain's finest novelists. This indelible portrait of a family torn apart by war focuses on Toby Brooke, a medical student, and his younger sister Elinor. Enmeshed in a web of complicated family relationships, Elinor and Toby are close: some might say too close. But when World War I begins, Toby is posted to the front as a medical officer while Elinor stays in London to continue her fine art studies at the Slade, under the tutelage of Professor Henry Tonks. There, in a startling development based in actual fact, Elinor finds that her drafting skills are deployed to aid in the literal reconstruction of those maimed in combat.

One day in 1917, Elinor has a sudden premonition that Toby will not return from France. Three weeks later the family receives a telegram informing them that Toby is "Missing, Believed Killed" in Ypres. However, there is no body, and Elinor refuses to accept the official explanation. Then she finds a letter hidden in the lining of Toby's uniform; Toby knew he wasn't coming back, and he implies that fellow soldier Kit Neville will know why.

Toby's Room is an eloquent literary narrative of hardship and resilience, love and betrayal, and anguish and redemption. In unflinching yet elegant prose, Pat Barker captures the enormity of the war's impact--not only on soldiers at the front but on the loved ones they leave behind.

Pat Barker returns to the First World War in this dark, compelling novel of human desire, wartime horror and the power of friendship

War evokes memories that many would soon rather forget. But when it takes Elinor's brother, Toby, the past becomes an irrepressible force -- and the only one that can unravel the mysteries behind Toby's final days on the battlefield. How exactly did her brother die, and why?

Elinor goes to those around her for help -- but they, too, are fiercely guarding secrets of their own. Her classmate Kit, a witness to Toby's death, holds a vital key to what happened, but he is in no mood to talk. Enlisting the help of her former lover Paul, Elinor determines to uncover the truth -- but at what cost? More importantly, what was the clandestine affair that had taken place between the siblings in 1912, and what will it mean for everyone when Toby's ghosts finally catch up to them?

Moving from the Slade School of Art before the First World War to Queen Mary's Hospital, where surgery and art intersect in the attempt to rebuild the shattered faces of the wounded, Toby's Room is a riveting drama of identity and damage, of intimacy and loss. It is Pat Barker's most powerful novel yet.

Category - Fiction / Family & Relationships

Format - Paperback

Condition - Excellent

Listed - 2 months ago

Views - 4

Ships From - New York

Est. Publication Date - Jul 2013

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Toby's Room

ISBN: 9780307387813

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Category - Fiction / Family & Relationships

Format - Paperback

Condition - Excellent

Listed - 2 months ago

Views - 4

Ships From - New York

Est. Publication Date - Jul 2013

Additional Information

Toby's Room

ISBN: 9780307387813

Publisher Description

Tags

Toby's Room

By:

$2.00

Meet the seller

Discover more

Toby's Room

By: Pat Barker

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