Toby’s Room

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.