Nicola Barker (born 30 March 1966) is an English novelist and short story writer.
[1] While still young, her parents left England and settled in South Africa.
[2][3] Barker typically writes about damaged or eccentric people in mundane situations, and has a fondness for bleak, isolated settings.
Wide Open and Behindlings are set respectively on the Isle of Sheppey and Canvey Island.
Patrick Ness's review in The Guardian described the book as "phenomenally good" despite it being an "838-page epic with little describable plot, taking place over just a few days and set in...Ashford"[5] Her 2004 novel, Clear, is set in London during David Blaine's Above the Below 44-day fast in London in 2003.