Bareback - Softcover

Whitfield, Kit

Softcover

ISBN 10: 009950362X ISBN 13: 9780099503620

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2006

Synopsis

Lola Galley is used to doing things she doesn't want. She certainly doesn't want to be assigned the case of Richard Ellaway, the man who, under a cold full moon, mutilated a good friend of hers. But being a bareback, what she wants and what she gets are seldom the same. For those born feet-first, life is comfortable, and one night a month they lock themselves in a secure room to fur up in peace. Barebacks, trapped in their human skin and drafted at eighteen into the Department for the Ongoing Regulation of Lycanthropic Activity, don't have it so easy. A full moon means patrolling the silent night in search of transformed citizens breaking the curfew. The rest of the month, DORLA agents mop up the after-effects of the trespasses, the fights and the maulings. Resignedly, she takes the case - but before Ellaway can be tried, her maimed friend is murdered. Lola wants justice. She'll settle for the truth. But in a divided world, asking for the truth may bring answers that you don't want to hear.

About this title

About the Author

Kit Whitfield is a graduate of Christ's College, Cambridge and completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Her first novel, Bareback (published in the US as Benighted) was shortlisted for the Authors Club Best First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award. Her second novel is In Great Waters. She lives in London.

Review

"Bareback is neither [quite] horror nor supernatural fantasy, but more a cautionary tale which echoes The Handmaid's Tale or Nineteen Eighty Four...Her story resonates with real issues of power, responsibility and blame" -- Lisa Tuttle * The Times * "A gutsy debut...it's hard not to cheer on Whitfield's nerve, especially when her plot, a hard-boiled thriller... rattles along at such a pace" -- Hepzibah Anderson * Observer * "Gritty and original" * Guardian * "Extraordinary" -- Kate Atkinson "An intelligent book and a moving one" * Time Out *

Edition details

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 009950362X
• ISBN 13: 9780099503620
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1