The Haunt
Published on 7. December 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-1-86049-723-0 (ISBN)
Description
Set in 'old forest country' on the tip of Cornwall, The Belle Chasse is a seedy, dishevelled and decaying hotel, but like the forest itself, with the germ of the legendary Cornish great forest at its heart, The Haunt is a place that welcomes those with longings, with their own deep-seated, incommunicable fears. There is the elderly couple who have just moved to the country, there to find solace but in fact discovering love of a different kind. The child who is odd and needs a friend. The eccentric painter, the loner whose wife has left him. With her precise, pithy use of language and clear sense of judgement, A. L.Barker's THE HAUNT is a wholly original novel which picks up a clutch of characters and slowly reveals the very eccentricities that drive them. 'She is a quietly excellent and very English writer, who believes in fatalism as others believe in action. She deserves to be read and read again.' Anita Brookner
Reviews / Votes
'With its sly, slow-burning jokes and exquisite dialogue, THE HAUNT must count among the season's funniest novels' INDEPENDENT 'She is perceptive and compassionate in her treatment of human folly, with an enviable command of contemporary fiction' LITERARY REVIEW 'Her writing is almost dauntingly fresh - glancing, mercurial, elusive' Adam Mars-Jones 'She is a quietly excellent and very English writer, who believes in fatalism as others believe in action. She deserves to be read and read again.' Anita Brookner. 'I like A.L Barker enormously...She really tells you what people do, the extraordinary things that people thing...Oh, she's almost better than anybody, I think!' Rebecca West 'A.L Barker is an unusual writer in that she is always as good as her many admirers say she is. She has been consistently rewarding over her long career.' THE TIMES 'She writes with precision and economy of words which had me gasping with admiration.' INDEPENDENT 'A.L Barker specialises in deadpan humour, in delicious, unsmiling jokes.' OBSERVER 'Barker has a rare economy of expression, but there's no rationing of emotion. Ultimately, this is as intriguing as a dream that refuses to divulge its meaning. It hints at hidden, perhaps disturbing, things but does so with a fragmentary, perverse charm.' OBSERVER 'This is a delightful novel, its rich cast of characters beautifully observed.' THE TIMES 'She [Barker] is perceptive and compassionate in her treatment of human folly, with an enviable command of contemporary idiom.' LITERARY REVIEWMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 125 mm
Weight
160 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-86049-723-0 (9781860497230)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
A.L. Barker joined the BBC after the war. Her debut book of short stories, INNOCENTS, won the first Somerset Maugham Prize in 1947 & her novel, JOHN BROWN'S BODY (VMC) was shortlisted for the Booker in 1969. She is the author of 11 novels and 9 story collections.