Pat Barker’s exraordinary three novels; The Regeneration Trilogy
“Barker does a phenomenal job of detailing the psychological consequences of trench warfare during the Great War. Set in London, Scotland, and France, the three volumes focus on the principle characters of Prior, Sassoon, Owens, and the renowned psychologist Dr.W.H. Rivers. Both their personal relationships with each other and with the First World War are examined.
The reader is provided a glimpse into the terrible conditions of trench fighting, and how the medical establishment viewed shell-shock as a medical diagnosis and how it was treated. Through the poetry of Owen, Sassoon, etc, the world can begin to understand the personal horrors they have witnessed of a war that many soldiers did not understand. Based loosely on historical events and characters, Barker has created a perspective of modern warfare that does not contain the quintessential happy ending.”
It was reading these three glittering novels that then led me to Fussell’s “The Great War.”
The third volume of the trilogy, “The Ghost Road,” won the Mann Booker award in 1995.