The Life Class Trilogy - Pat Barker

Today I'll be reviewing all three books in Pat Barker's Life Class Trilogy, mainly because they can be read as one long story divided into three shorter novels. I rarely read multiple books in a series consecutively, opting to have a break usually, but in this case I read the entire trilogy in one go and really enjoyed it.

I've previously enjoyed Barker's Regeneration Trilogy as well as The Silence of the Girls, and I eagerly anticipate her new novel The Women of Troy when it comes out in paperback. Her writing of historical fiction is totally unique, captivating and at times ugly and harrowing which I greatly appreciate. In short, Barker is an author who is totally honest and unapologetic.

The first novel, Life Class, focuses on Paul Tarrant and Elinor Brooke, students at the Slade School of Art in London, 1914. When war breaks out, Paul enlists with the Belgian Red Cross and, having admitted how they feel for each other, the pair continue their relationship whilst war rages.

Toby's Room, the second novel, focuses more closely on Elinor's elder brother, Toby, and their unusual relationship which has shaped Elinor's adulthood. When Toby is reported missing, presumed dead from his post as a medical officer in the front line, Elinor and Paul delve to uncover the truth about what happened to him - something which fellow art student and comrade in arms Kit Neville can reveal.

Finally, Noonday jumps forward to 1940 during The Blitz. A lot has changed for Elinor and Paul, with the former working for the ambulance service and the latter an air-raid warden. This novel illustrates the constant fear and anxiety of the Second World War from London, and documents its toll on relationships.

As always, Barker's characterisation is real, raw, and unflattering at the best of times. Complex characters are definitely her forté and she does not shy away from documenting the horrors of war in contrast with the nuances, and at times privilege, of art. A triumph!