Toby’s Room

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of the second novel in Pat Barker's acclaimed 'Life Class' trilogy - a dark and compelling examination of desire, friendship and the horror of war, from one of our greatest writers on war and the human heart

From the Booker Prize-winning and Women's Prize-shortlisted author of The Silence of the Girls

'Heart-rending... Toby's Room anatomises a world where extreme emotion shatters the boundaries of identity, behaviour, gender' Independent

'Once again Barker skilfully moves between past and present, seamlessly weaving fact and fiction into a gripping narrative' Sunday Telegraph


When Toby is reported 'Missing, Believed Killed', another secret casts a lengthening shadow over Elinor's world: how exactly did Toby die - and why? Elinor determines to uncover the truth. Only then can she finally close the door to Toby's room. Moving from the Slade School of Art to Queen Mary's Hospital, where surgery and art intersect in the rebuilding of the shattered faces of the wounded, Toby's Room is a riveting drama of identity, damage, intimacy and loss.

The Life Class trilogy:
Life Class
Toby's Room
Noonday

Critics Review

  • Magnificent; I finished eagerly wanting to know what happened next, and as I read, I was enjoying, marvelling and learning

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • The plot unfurls to a devastating conclusion … a fine piece of work

    New Statesman
  • A heart-rending return to the Great War. A superb stylist … forensically observant and imaginatively sublime

    Independent
  • Dark, painful, yet also tender. It succeeds brilliantly

    The New York Times

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.