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Life Class

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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of the first novel in Pat Barker's acclaimed 'Life Class' trilogy - an unforgettable story of art and 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

'Triumphant, inspiring, shattering' The Times

'Barker writes as brilliantly as ever... With great tenderness and insight she conveys a wartime world turned upside down' Independent on Sunday

'Masterly, gripping' Penelope Lively

'Extraordinarily powerful' Sunday Telegraph

Spring, 1914. The students at the Slade School of Art gather in Henry Tonks's studio for his life-drawing class. But for Paul Tarrant the class is troubling, underscoring his own uncertainty about making a mark on the world. When war breaks out and the army won't take Paul, he enlists in the Belgian Red Cross just as he and fellow student Elinor Brooke admit their feelings for one another. Amidst the devastation in Ypres, Paul comes to see the world anew - but have his experiences changed him completely?

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

 20th Century Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction World War I Fiction War Student

Critic reviews

Sharply written and elegantly constructed - breathtaking
A compelling read
Thoughtful, ambiguous and powerful
All stars
Most relevant
My Interest was Heightened from The Start, By The Setting, alongside The Descriptions of Characters and Their Varying Lifestyles as They Struggle to Hold on to Their Art, as The Heat of War Rises to Consume Them All! Even though The Book is Stark and Uncompromising, The Principals are Brought Out, Beautifully, on to The Page. I Did Feel The Ending was Rather Abrupt.

Dark-Intense-Painfully Tender

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Reading by several actors added depth to performance.

A fictionalised account of the wartime experiences of young artists with encounters with some historical figures.

I will have to catch other parts of the trilogy.

Life Class

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Thought provoking with regards to whether Art has a place in times of War. Some really unpleasant descriptions of working in a WWI field hospital and dealing with wounds and amputations.
Well read, But the author has relied on the technique of ‘news in letters’ to tell a lot of the action in part two.

Thought provoking

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Pat Barker s heroine refuses on principle to find war a justifiable subject for art, even after being caught up in a raid at Ypres. Her arguments are contrasted with the more conventional story line covered by the male characters. The portrayal of society in the build up to the first World War is much more nuanced than in most novels of the period and the details of the role of an orderly or ambulance driver in Belgium are vivid. The role of the artist in these circumstances makes a useful basis for the exploration of the nature of friendship and love.

Is war experience justifiable as art?

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I discarded this book when I tried to read it - but this audible version made me view the characters and the pace in a different way. (Is that good or bad - I am not sure). Having not found any common ground/compassion/interest with the characters when I read this - I seem to have done so with the audible version. I think this maybe because this is read at an incredibly slow pace (not the pace I would read) - and that's how it works. I don't know but I have enjoyed the audible version enough I will go on to the next part in the story.

Warning - takes time to get into the rhythmn

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