Union Street (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Pat Barker
- First Published: 1982
- Type of Work: Social realism
- Time of Work: Winter, 1973
- Setting: A depressed inner-city neighborhood in the northeast of England
- Principal Characters: Kelly Brown, Joanne Wilson, Lisa Goddard, Muriel Scaife, Iris King, Blonde Dinah, Alice Bell
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, 1970’s, Suffering, Adolescence, Poverty or poor people, Pregnancy, Rape, Inner cities or inner-city life, England or English people, Women, Death or dying, Abortion, Housing
- Locales: England
The Novel
In Union Street, Pat Barker builds a grimly realistic picture of daily drudgery and hardship among women living on a run-down street of cramped, substandard houses in one of the most depressed neighborhoods of an industrial city in northeastern England. The book has seven interrelated parts, each of which is centered on the story of a girl or woman during a major crisis in her life.
Eleven-year-old Kelly Brown and her teenage sister Linda come from the poorest, dirtiest, and most gossiped-about family in the street. Their father has left home. Their...
[The entire page is 2387 words long]
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