Book description
A new novel from the Booker Prize winning Pat Barker, author of the Regeneration Trilogy, that unforgettably portrays London during the Blitz (her first portrayal of World War II) and reconfirms her place in the very top rank of British novelists.
London, the Blitz, Autumn 1940. As the bombs fall…
Why read it?
1 author picked Noonday as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
An accumulation of memories haunt and inform Noonday, a novel that stands alone as the third in a trilogy spanning both world wars. I particularly love Barker’s avoidance of sentimentality. She is an honest writer who digs deep and gives no easy solutions as she follows a cast of characters who originally met as students at the Slade School of Art in London. Elinor, who is central, still suffers from the death of her brother Toby in the Great War. Barker’s skillful evocation of the past gives weight and resonance to every word, reminding the reader of the increasing…
From Amanda's list on human relations in the altered reality of wartime.
If you love Noonday...
The Wedding Shroud
In 406 BC, to seal a tenuous truce, young Roman Caecilia is wedded to Vel Mastarna, an Etruscan nobleman from Veii. Leaving her militaristic homeland, Caecilia is determined to remain true to Roman virtues while living among the sinful Etruscans. But, despite her best intentions, she is seduced by a…
Want books like Noonday?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Noonday.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,340
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Noonday, you might also like...
Sufferance
This is a novel about choices. How would you have chosen to act during the Second World War if your country had been invaded and occupied by a brutal enemy determined to isolate and murder a whole community?
That’s the situation facing an ordinary family man with two children, a…
In the Garden of Monsters
Italy, 1948. Julia Lombardi is a mystery even to herself. The beautiful model can’t remember her past or how she came to live in Rome.
When Salvador Dalí invites her to the eerie Sacro Bosco—the Garden of Monsters—to pose as his muse, she accepts, hoping to unlock the truth about…
