Barker, Pat

The novelist Pat (Patricia) Barker was born in a working-class home in Thornaby-on-Tees, northeast England. Her father's identity is unknown and she lived with her mother Moira at her grandmother’s house. When Pat Barker was seven, her mother left to get married, and Barker chose to stay with her grandmother. Her grandparents ran a fish and chips shop, and she often read the newspapers that were used for wrapping meals. One day she discovered a book of poems among the newspapers.