Noonday

By: Pat Barker

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Stephen Boxer, John Sackville, Anne Reid, Finlay Robertson

A new novel from the Booker Prize–winning Pat Barker, author of the Regeneration trilogy, that unforgettably portrays London during the Blitz and reaffirms her place as a top-ranked British novelist

London, the Blitz, Autumn 1940. As the bombs fall on the blacked-out city, ambulance driver Elinor Brooke races from bomb sites to hospitals in order to save the lives of injured survivors. She works alongside former friend Kit Neville while her husband, Paul Tarrant, works as an air-raid warden.

Once fellow students at the Slade School of Fine Art before the First World War destroyed the hopes of their generation, they now find themselves caught in another war, this time at home. As the bombing intensifies, the constant risk of death makes all three reach out for quick consolation. And into their midst comes the spirit medium Bertha Mason, grotesque and unforgettable, whose ability to make contact with the deceased finds vastly increased demand as death rains down from the skies. Old loves and obsessions resurface until Elinor is brought face-to-face with an almost impossible choice.

Completing the story that began with Life Class and continued with Toby’s Room, Noonday is both a stand-alone novel and the climax of a trilogy. Writing about the Second World War for the first time, Pat Barker brings the besieged and haunted city of London into electrifying life in her most powerful novel since the Regeneration trilogy.

©2016 Pat Barker (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Noonday is the final volume in a trilogy that includes Life Class and Toby’s Room. You don’t need to have read either of the earlier books to appreciate this one, which is a fine and satisfying novel in its own right.”

(Financial Times (London))

“Noonday is nothing if not historical, bristling with period detail and gritty, well-researched atmosphere. Here, as you’d expect, Pat Barker excels.”

(Guardian (London))

“Ms. Barker deftly handles a large cast…Historical fiction of a high order.”

(New York Times)

“[A] powerful, ambitious historical novel…War images are searing, as well as up close and personal…Its sweep makes us truly appreciate life and death in a decimated landscape.”

(NPR.org)

“Barker is as subtle and tough-minded here about human nature as in all her work. Yet the closing pages suggest the possibility of new beginnings even as they acknowledge the permanence of old wounds…A strong example of this gifted British writer’s intelligent, uncompromising way with fiction.”

(Kirkus Reviews (starred review))

“While this novel stands on its own merit, to fully appreciate Noonday, listeners will first want to hear Booker Prize winner Pat Barker’s previous books in the trilogy, Life Class and Toby’s Room. The stellar cast transforms returning characters Elinor, Paul, and Kit into credible people…Each performance is a small gem, illuminating the determination of a people that hundreds of Nazi night raids couldn’t extinguish.”

(AudioFile)

Blitz

I adored reading Pat Barker’s trilogy on WW I and this book is such an important story. I’d say, very good, not excellent. Multiple voices for listening is OK, but not my favorite. Quality of description excellent — which brings me to the question, “Why did the US not enter the war to help Britain?”

ended? really?

This book is beautifully written, a powerfully evocative portrayal of life on the homefront in WW2. I really enjoyed the listen and found it educational and thought provoking .....BUT...I couldn't believe it had ended. I thought I must have skipped to the end by accident, leaving out a few key chapters. I felt that there were too many loose ends ..and characters that seemed to have had no purpose /resolution. ...but i wonder retrospectively if this was because I had not read the earlier 2 books. I am going to give the earlier books a read...and will be interested to hear what others think.