Review by Booklist Review
Characters from Barker's acclaimed previous novel, Regeneration, feature prominently in her latest one, an intense portrayal of lives touched by the pain and suffering of World War I. The narrative, set in 1918, focuses on witch-hunts that occurred in Great Britain, with homosexuals and pacifists as the targets of widespread persecution. Lt. Billy Prior is a fascinating, pivotal figure. A bisexual afflicted with a split personality disorder, Prior functions with significant difficulty as an intelligence officer caught between his working-class background and the upper-class military peers with whom he works. The relationship he forms with Dr. Rivers, a psychiatrist, and Rivers' empathetic relationships with other patients emerge as the backbone of a potent story, woven flawlessly with a stunning antiwar sentiment. ~--Alice Joyce
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
From the author of Regeneration comes the story of British society's struggles during WWI. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Revisiting World War I England to explore war and its effects on individuals and society, Barker brings back characters that readers will remember from Regeneration(LJ 3/1/92), including bisexual war hero Billy Prior and psychiatrist William Rivers. In 1918, the war was not going well for the Allies, and hysteria took root-the targets being pacifists and homosexuals, who were allegedly open to blackmail. Prior has connections to a group of pacifists who are being persecuted, and he also suffers from psychological episodes in which his personality alters dramatically. Dr. Rivers treats both Prior and other homosexuals on ``The 47,000,'' a list of all purported gays in Britain. This book lacks some of the emotional impact of Regeneration, but the plot is more complex and makes for a more compelling work. Recommended for most fiction collections.-C. Christopher Pavek, Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett, Inc. Information Ctr., Washington, D.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Barker's Regeneration (1992) was a fine novelistic reconstruction of the psychiatric mission to heal British officers damaged by World War I horrors; this equally impressive companion volume investigates personal and societal breakdown in the war's final stages. London, April 1918. Haig has issued an order to ``fight on to the end.'' Civil liberties are being eroded, with pacifists and homosexuals the scapegoats. A woman pacifist, Beattie Roper, is doing time for ``plotting'' to kill Prime Minister Lloyd George, convicted on the evidence of Spragge, a government informer. There have been strikes in munition factories; their organizer, Patrick MacDowell, is on the run. Caught in the middle between the government and its ragtag opposition is Lieutenant Billy Prior. The working-class officer and ``temporary gentleman'' (class differences permeate the novel), last seen as one of neurologist Rivers's most difficult patients, now works for British Intelligence. His loyalties are divided; Mac was his closest childhood friend, while Beattie was a surrogate mother, but overarching those affections are his ties to the men in the trenches (``Picard clay was a powerful glue''). The agent provocateur Spragge is his one clear external enemy; his internal enemies are still legion. He starts experiencing fugue states (blackouts) that increasingly hamper his ability to hunt for Mac and battle Sprague until, undergoing more therapy, he and Rivers discover their childhood origin. Barker ingeniously meshes Prior's private demons with his public sleuthing in a fast-moving narrative that dazzles with its profusion of memorable cameos and encounters. Regeneration was dominated by the all too real Craiglockhart hospital and therapeutic practice; this work is dominated by the wholly fictional, marvelously complex Prior and is more satisfying novelistically. Together they form a remarkable achievement.
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