Table Of ContentPENGUIN BOOKS
ANOTHER WORLD
‘One of the best things she has ever done, surely the most moving’ Ruth Rendell, Sunday Times
‘Masterly… with scenes of tremendous emotion that surpass the intensity of the Regeneration
trilogy… Although her subject matter is always serious, often dramatic, Barker has never been
sensational. Facts and implication are enough for her and she uses them to great effect, leaving
us to wonder, what if…?’ Rosemary Goring, Scotland on Sunday
‘Gripping… never less than compulsively readable’ Margaret Forster, Literary Review
‘This subtle and beautifully written story of a discordant contemporary family shows how the
violent past still has power to thrust out its distorting tentacles’ P. D. James, Sunday Times
‘Simple, strong and devastating… Few writers are willing to brave the deep waters that Barker
enters. In spite of her humour, she is a serious writer, tackling the mystery of evil and showing
the past repeating itself compulsively’ Carol Birch, The Times Literary Supplement
‘[A] compelling, moving and disturbing novel’ Michele Roberts, Independent on Sunday
‘Intensely feeling… Geordie is a beautifully realized character, tough, humorous, and finally
enigmatic’ Helen Dunmore, The Times
‘Compelling’ Rachel Cusk, Express
‘Keenly observed and sympathetic… an exquisitely detailed portrait of family relationships’
Stephanie Merritt, Observer
‘A fine writer at the peak of her form… Another World can be regarded as an epilogue to the
Regeneration trilogy’ David Robson, Sunday Telegraph
‘An electric, disturbing novel… This is outstanding fiction, chilling and honest about the real
struggles in family life – Barker’s best book yet’ Woman’s Journal
‘[Barker] makes us feel we know these people, care about them and their concerns… [Geordie] is
a wonderful creation who dominates the narrative and whose concerns are echoed throughout
the book’ Glasgow Herald
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pat Barker was born in Thornaby-on-Tees in 1943. She was educated at
the London School of Economics and has been a teacher of history and
politics. Her books include Union Street (1982), winner of the 1983
Fawcett Prize, which has been filmed as Stanley and Iris; Blow Your House
Down (1984); Liza’s England (1986), formerly The Century’s Daughter, The
Man Who Wasn’t There (1989); the highly acclaimed Regeneration trilogy,
comprising Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, winner of the 1993
Guardian Fiction Prize, and The Ghost Road, winner of the 1995 Booker
Prize for Fiction; Another World; and her latest novel, Border Crossing. A
single-volume edition of the Regeneration trilogy is also available in
Penguin.
Pat Barker is married and lives in Durham.
PAT BARKER
Another World
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Putnam Inc., 375
Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell,
Victoria 3124, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
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Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24
Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL,
England www.penguin.com
First published by Viking 1998
Published in Penguin Books 1999
16
Copyright © Pat Barker, 1998
All rights reserved.
The moral right of the author has been asserted Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the
condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the
publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar
condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ISBN: 978-0-14-192883-8
For David, Donna and Gillon
– with love
Remember: the past won’t fit into memory without something left over;
it must have a future.
– JOSEPH BRODSKY
ONE
Cars queue bumper to bumper, edge forward, stop, edge forward again.
Resting his bare arm along the open window, Nick drums his fingers.
The Bigg Market on a Friday night. Litter of chip cartons, crushed lager
cans, a gang of lads with stubble heads and tattooed arms looking for
trouble – and this is early, it hasn’t got going yet. Two girls stroll past,
one wearing a thin, almost transparent white cotton dress. At every
stride her nipples show, dark circles beneath the cloth, fish rising. One of
the lads calls her name: ‘Julie!’ She turns, and the two of them fall into
each other’s arms.
Nick watches, pretending not to.
What is love’s highest aim?
Four buttocks on a stem.
Can’t remember who said that – some poor sod made cynical by
thwarted lust. Nothing wrong with the aim, as far as Nick can see – just
doesn’t seem much hope of achieving it any more. And neither will these
two, or not yet. The boy’s mates crowd round, grab him by the belt, haul
him off her. ‘Jackie-no-balls,’ the other girl jeers. The boy thrusts his
pelvis forward, makes wanking movements with his fist.
Lights still red. Oh, come on. He’s going to be late, and he doesn’t
Description:Plagued by nightmarish memories of the trenches where he saw his brother die, Nick's grandfather Gordie lays dying as Nick struggles to keep the peace in his increasingly fractious home. As Nick's suburban family loses control over their world, Nick begins to learn his grandfather's buried secrets a
