Winner of IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2000, Wide Open is the first of Nicola Barker’s Thames Gateway novels.
Poking out of the River Thames estuary, the strange Isle of Sheppey is home to a nudist beach, a nature reserve, a wild boar farm and not much else. The landscape is bleak, but the people are interesting. There's Luke, who specialises in join-the-dots pornography and lippy, outraged Lily. They are joined by Jim, the 8-year-old Nathan and the mysterious, dark-eyed Ronnie.
Each one floats adrift in turbulent currents, fighting the rip tide of a past that swims with secrets. Only if they see through the lies and prejudice will they gain redemption. Wide Open is about coming to terms with the past, and the fantasies people construct in order to protect their fragile inner selves.
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‘Wide Open is word perfect, witty and ironic...The author's focus on marginal lives and on the importance of the dispossessed and the apparently mad persuade us finally that Wide Open possesses a manic energy and taut eloquence worthy of a large, serious and global readership.’ Impac Prize judging panel
‘Razor-sharp comic sensibility and flawless structure’ Suzi Feay, Independent on Sunday
‘It combines Nicola Barker's trademark qualities of offbeat comedy and quirky characterisation with an emotional darkness and depth that marked it, for many critics, as her breakthrough ...The novel mixes an eccentric island backdrop – a Barker speciality – with a cast of intriguing oddballs, pin-sharp comic dialogue, and a sinister undercurrent of violence and abuse’ Independent
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Winner of IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2000, Wide Open is the first of Nicola Barkers Thames Gateway novels. Wide Open is set on the strange Isle Of Sheppey, which pokes out into into the estuary of the River Thames. On this forgotten misty island there is a nudist beach, a nature reserve, a wild boar farm and not much else. The landscape is bare, but the characters are brimming with life. There's Luke, who specialises in dot-to-dot pornography, and lippy Lily, just 17 and full of outrageous anger. They are joined by Jim and the 8-year-old, Nathan, as well as the mysterious figure of Ronnie, who though plain has dark, telling eyes.Each one is drifting in turbulent, emotional currents, fighting the rip tide of a past, bleak with secrets and fear. Years later adult Nathan works in a Lost Property department, an irony that is almost brutal in its compassion.A novel about stripping off layers of prejudice and lies, about the possibility of redemption, and laying bare the truth. It is also about coming to terms with the past, and about the fantasies people construct in order to protect their fragile inner selves. Winner of IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2000, Wide Open is the first of Nicola Barkers Thames Gateway novels. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780007435722
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780007435722
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 300 pages. 7.72x4.96x0.87 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __000743572X
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Book Description Condition: New. 2011. Paperback. Winner of IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2000, Wide Open is the first of Nicola Barker's Thames Gateway novels. Num Pages: 300 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 165 x 199 x 20. Weight in Grams: 220. . . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780007435722
Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition. Seller Inventory # bk000743572Xxvz189zvxnew
Book Description Condition: New. 2011. Paperback. Winner of IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2000, Wide Open is the first of Nicola Barker's Thames Gateway novels. Num Pages: 300 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 165 x 199 x 20. Weight in Grams: 220. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780007435722
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think000743572X
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 18624173-n
Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # VC-9780007435722