Wide Open: A Novel

Nicola Barker

Oct 2012 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

“Barker’s weird imagination works wonders with this extraordinary tale of two brothers . . . Exceptional.” —Elle Winner of the 2000 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Nicola Barker’s remarkable literary genius illuminates a tale of family and loss. As winner of the highly prestigious IMPAC International Dublin Literary Award, Wide Open topped a list of titles by such masters as Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, and Michael Cunningham. It is a truly extraordinary work of fiction, taking readers into the minds and hearts of the remarkable inhabitants of a small English seaside town. There’s Ronny, who has some strange things in common with a man he finds dangling from a bridge; Nathan, the son of a pedophile, who toils in the Underground’s Lost Property department, endlessly logging missing items; Sara, in charge of her family boar farm; and Lily, her teenage daughter, tragically born with unformed organs and blood that refuses to clot.  Wide Open is a novel about stripping off layers of prejudice and lies, and about the possibility of redemption. It is also about coming to terms with the past, and about the fantasies people construct in order to protect their fragile inner selves. Starkly original—and at turns hilarious, sad, and hopeful—Wide Open exuberantly displays Barker’s singular talent.

About the author

Nicola Barker’s eight previous novels include Darkmans (short-listed for the 2007 Man Booker and Ondaatje prizes, and winner of the Hawthornden Prize), Wide Open (winner of the 2000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award), and Clear (long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2004). She has also written two prize-winning collections of short stories, and her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in East London.