Femina Real

This collection of nine short stories contains some of A. L. Barker's most powerful and disquieting fiction. 'Noon', about a middle-aged man's unacknowledged trysts with a young girl, memorably expresses the ambivalence and repression which haunts ordinary and respectable lives against the backdrop of a Mediterranean package-holiday hotel; in 'Glory, Glory Allelujah' an aging brother and sister attempt to exorcise the imprisoned hopelessness of their lives in a ritual bonfire in memory of their dead mother; and with stories such as 'Almost an International Incident' and 'Monstra Deliciosa' the author attunes her command of humour and finely wrought levity to display a writing sensibility that alternates between despair and sanguinity to unique, skilful and moving effect.

'She is formidable, and from a bare corner of human relations gathers a rich harvest.' Adam Mars-Jones

'Her glancing, allusive writing carries one along easily, darting from invention to invention . . . Underneath there is a firm, ordering imagination and the poise of perfect pitch.' New Statesman

'It would be hard to find anyone who chooses words more exactly or constructs with more precision.' Penelope Fitzgerald