Review "Pat Barker understands the dynamics of psychic trauma and shutdown as well as any living writer." -- Esquire Product Description Capturing the devastation and psychological trauma of the Great War on every level of British society, a new novel by the Booker Prize-winning author of The Ghost Road focuses on a group of young art students, including Paul Tarrant, a Red Cross volunteer, who soon discovers that life, love, and art will never be the same. Simultaneous. From AudioFile In one of the most brilliant novels of the past decade (by a previous winner of the Booker Prize), a group of young artists studies under Britain's most acclaimed master. They go out after class, forming friendships they think will last forever. Then WWI breaks out. Some become orderlies or work on ambulances. None stop drawing and painting. The novel is broken into short sections, and listeners are treated to a vision of art in a wartime that no one could have been prepared for. It's difficult to imagine anyone but Russell Boulter reading this. Nothing escapes him. He knows how to create suspense and when breathiness is called for, and he understands the frequent need for a moment's silence. R.R. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine