Raffaella Barker
BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR
- Title: Summertime
- Description:
Summertime, the sequel to Raffaella Barker's extremely popular Hens Dancing is a six-month snapshot of the life of Venetia Summers and her three children. Deserted by her "tower-of-strength" boyfriend David, Venetia spends the summer waiting for him to return, lonely and hurt that he seems to be taking his time. Don't be fooled into thinking that she's just going to sit and mope. Although it would be pushing it to describe Summertime as action-packed--too much of the novel takes place on the school run or in the knot garden for that--Venetia's life races along and the months soon skip past. There are three eccentric children to ferry about, the ex-husband and his Internet pet cemetery to contend with and a new neighbour--the elusive Hedley Sale, complete with monobrow and dandruff. Written in a clipped diary style, Summertime is packed with moments city dwellers only dream about. Afternoons in the garden of a beautiful Norfolk cottage, impulsive trips to hear nightingales, Easter egg hunts and moonlit nights stuffed with stars. Although they're a privileged lot--the children tell jokes about Beethoven--they're endearing and lovers of Katie Fforde, Mavis Cheek and Joanna Trollope should snap this up. Especially if they're partial to a cheeky parrot with a fruity wolf whistle and a mean sense of rhythm.--Jane Honey 
- Title: Hens Dancing
- Description:
Venetia Summers appears to lead a fairytale existence with her husband and sons in her tumbledown Norfolk cottage. But when her husband walks out on them, not even the arrival of a new baby can make up for the sense of loss she feels. This novel follows Venetia's diaries over the course of a year.
About the Author Raffaella Barker is the daughter of novelist Elspeth and poet George Barker. She lives in Norfolk, and is a regular contributor to Country Life and the Sunday Telegraph. 
- Title: Phosphorescence
- Description:
Fourteen-year-old Lola Jordan feels like a useless misfit among her cool city classmates. Until this term, she's lived a quiet country life on the windswept saltmarshes of north Norfolk. She's mortified when her lyrical essay on phosphorescence is read out in front of the whole school. But much worse is the ensuing geography trip to her childhood home. Camping on the famous island nature reserve run by her father, a bunch of designer-clad teenagers, including the boy of Lola's dreams, runs wild. But in the midst of chaos, excitement, danger and snogging in the sparkling midnight sea, Lola learns that the best way to belong is to be an individual.
