This trilogy delves into the brutal realities of World War I, examining the trauma and psychological scars left on soldiers. It follows characters navigating the harsh conditions of the war zone, confronting both physical and mental suffering. The series serves as a powerful meditation on human resilience in the face of unimaginable violence and loss. It offers a poignant look at the profound individual impact of large-scale conflict.
'[A] brilliant novel...at its centre is a real-life encounter that occurred at Craiglockhart in 1917 between W.H.R. Rivers, an army psychologist, and Siegfried Sassoon...Intense and subtle, getting responsively under the skin of both real and imagined characters, Regeneration is receptive to all aspects of the era - and the heroes - it resurrects' Peter Kemp, Sunday Times
'The year is now 1918 . . . In the climate of exhaustion and hysteria amid which the war is wearing to its close, pressures to fall into line become fierce and take ugly forms. At the forefront of her story, Barker places figures especially menaced by this: pacifists, conscientious objectors and homosexuals . . . a sequel every bit as unwaveringly intense and intelligent as its predecessor' Peter Kemp, Sunday Times
An alternate cover edition can be found here.As World War I winds to a close, two men--Dr. William Rivers, a psychologist whose dedicated healing sends men back to the brutal front, and Billy Prior, a shell-shocked soldier determined to rejoin the final English offensive--are profounded affected by the events of the era. Winner of the 1995 Booker Prize.
Including all three novels in one volume, "Regeneration", "The Eye in the Door" and "The Ghost Road". The trilogy explores with gritty realism the whole dirty, glorious and horrifying business of war.