The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA) and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2014 (MSSCA) are important legal, social and historical landmarks, rich in symbolic, material and cultural meanings. While fiercely opposed by many, within mainstream narratives they are often represented as a victory in a legal reform process that commenced with the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Yet, at the same time, for others they represent a problematic and ambivalent political engagement with the institution of marriage. Consequently, understood or labelled as 'revolutionary', 'progressive' and 'conservative', these legal reforms provide a space for thinking about issues that arguably affect everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or relationship status. This edited collection brings together scholars and commentators from a range of backgrounds, generations and disciplines to reflect on the first ten years of civil partnerships and the introduction of same-sex marriage. Rather than rehearsing the arguments 'for' and 'against' relationship recognition, the essays ask original questions, draw on a variety of methods and collectively provide a detailed and reflective 'snap shot' of a critical moment, a 'history of the present' as well as providing a foundation for innovative ways of thinking about and engaging with the possibilities and experiences arising from the new reality of relationship recognition for gays and lesbians.

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 are important legal, social and historical landmarks, rich in symbolic, material and cultural meanings. While fiercely opposed by many, within mainstream narratives they are often represented as a victory in a legal reform process that commenced with the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Yet, at the same time, for others they represent a problematic and ambivalent political engagement with the institution of marriage. Consequently, understood or labelled as 'revolutionary', 'progressive' and 'conservative', these legal reforms provide a space for thinking about issues that arguably affect everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or relationship status. This edited collection brings together scholars and commentators from a range of backgrounds, generations and disciplines to reflect on the first ten years of civil partnerships and the introduction of same-sex marriage. Rather than rehearsing the arguments 'for' and 'against' relationship recognition, the essays ask original questions, draw on a variety of methods and collectively provide a detailed and reflective 'snap shot' of a critical moment, a 'history of the present' as well as providing a foundation for innovative ways of thinking about and engaging with the possibilities and experiences arising from the new reality of relationship recognition for gays and lesbians.

The destinies of three mysterious lost children entwine in this James Tait Black Memorial Prize-winning fable by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Nicola Barker. A figure had condensed out of the shuddering backdrop of the glare. He is born in fire: a naked child in the blood-red flames of London's Blitz. Miraculously saved but grotesquely burned, this mysterious orphan is named Matty. Doomed to a life of torment, he becomes a wanderer, a spiritual seeker after unknown redemption. They are also lost children: neglected twins, as exquisitely beautiful as they are loveless and sinful. Toni explores political terrorism; Sophy, sexual dominance and violent criminality. But their destinies will soon collide in an apocalyptic climax - one that illuminates the inner and outer darkness of modern humanity. 'Exceptional ... Irresistibly transcendent ... Golding seduces us, transfixes, bewitches and confounds us.' Nicola Barker 'The most powerful, and strangest, of all Golding's novels, and one of the great masterpieces of the twentieth-century.' Philip Hensher 'A master craftsman in [his] magic ... Golding's best book ... Wonderfully creepy.' London Review of Books 'A vision of elemental reality so vivid we seem to hallucinate the scenes ... Magic.' NYTBR 'One of the most moving books I've ever read.' The Times

Shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize, an epic novel of startling originality which confirms Nicola Barker as one of Britain's most exciting literary talents. If history is a sick joke which keeps on repeating, then who keeps on telling it? Could it be John Scogin, Edward IV's jester, whose favourite skit was to burn people alive? Or could it be Andrew Boarde, physician to Henry VIII, who wrote John Scogin's biography? Or could it be a Kurd called Gaffar whose days are blighted by an unspeakable terror of salad? Or a beautiful bulimic with brittle bones? Or a man who guards Beckley Woods with a Samurai sword and a pregnant terrier? Darkmans is a very modern book, set in ridiculously modern Ashford, about two old-fashioned subjects: love and jealousy. And the main character? The past, creeping up on the present and whispering something quite dark into its ear. Darkmans is the third of Nicola Barker's visionary Thames Gateway novels. Following Wide Open (winner Dublin IMPAC award 2000) and Behindlings it confirms one of Britain's most original literary talents.

The hilarious Man Booker-longlisted novel from the author of 'Darkmans', Nicola Barker. 2006 is a foreign country; they do things differently there. Tiger Woods' reputation is entirely untarnished and the English Defence League does not exist yet. Stormclouds of a different kind are gathering above the bar of Luton's less than exclusive Thistle Hotel. Among those caught up in the unfolding drama are a man who's had cancer seven times, a woman priest with an unruly fringe, the troubled family of a notorious local fascist, an interfering barmaid with three E's at A-level but a PhD in bullshit, a free-thinking Muslim sex therapist and his considerably more pious wife. But at the heart of every intrigue and the bottom of every mystery is the repugnantly charismatic Stuart Ransom - a golfer in free-fall. Nicola Barker's Man Booker-longlisted novel 'The Yips' at once a historical novel of the pre-Twitter moment, the filthiest state-of-the-nation novel since Martin Amis's 'Money' and the most flamboyant piece of comic fiction ever to be set in Luton.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, "Darkmans" is an exhilarating, extraordinary examination of the ways in which history can play jokes on us all... If History is just a sick joke which keeps on repeating itself, then who exactly might be telling it, and why? Could it be John Scogin, Edward IV's infamous court jester, whose favorite pastime was to burn people alive - for a laugh? Or could it be Andrew Boarde, Henry VIII's physician, who kindly wrote John Scogin's biography? Or could it be a tiny Kurd called Gaffar whose days are blighted by an unspeakable terror of - uh - salad? Or a beautiful, bulimic harpy with ridiculously weak bones? Or a man who guards Beckley Woods with a Samurai sword and a pregnant terrier?

"Darkmans" is a very modern book, set in Ashford [a ridiculously modern town], about two very old-fashioned subjects: love and jealousy. It's also a book about invasion, obsession, displacement and possession, about comedy, art, prescription drugs and chiropody. And the main character? The past, which creeps up on the present and whispers something quite dark - quite unspeakable - into its ear.

The third of Nicola Barker's narratives of the Thames Gateway, "Darkmans" is an epic novel of startling originality.

Winner of IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2000, Wide Open is the first of Nicola Barker's Thames Gateway novels. Poking out of the River Thames estuary, the strange Isle of Sheppey is home to a nudist beach, a nature reserve, a wild boar farm and not much else. The landscape is bleak, but the people are interesting. There's Luke, who specialises in join-the-dots pornography and lippy, outraged Lily. They are joined by Jim, the 8-year-old Nathan and the mysterious, dark-eyed Ronnie. Each one floats adrift in turbulent currents, fighting the rip tide of a past that swims with secrets. Only if they see through the lies and prejudice will they gain redemption. Wide Open is about coming to terms with the past, and the fantasies people construct in order to protect their fragile inner selves.

*WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2017* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 2018* *LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018* A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR AN INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR From the internationally acclaimed, Man Booker-shortlisted Nicola Barker comes a new novel, a post-post apocalyptic story that overflows with pure creative talent. Imagine a perfect world where everything is known, where everything is open, where there can be no doubt, no hatred, no poverty, no greed. Imagine a System which both nurtures and protects. A Community which nourishes and sustains. An infinite world. A world without sickness, without death. A world without God. A world without fear. Could you...might you be happy there? H(A)PPY is a post-post apocalyptic Alice in Wonderland, a story which tells itself and then consumes itself. It's a place where language glows, where words buzz and sparkle and finally implode. It's a novel which twists and writhes with all the terrifying precision of a tiny fish in an Escher lithograph - a book where the mere telling of a story is the end of certainty.

On September 5, 2003, illusionist David Blaine entered a small Perspex box adjacent to London's Thames River and began starving himself. Forty-four days later, on October 19, he left the box, fifty pounds lighter. That much, at least, is clear. And the rest? The crowds? The chaos? The hype? The rage? The fights? The lust? The filth? The bullshit? The hypocrisy?

Nicola Barker fearlessly crams all that and more into this ribald and outrageous peep show of a novel, her most irreverent, caustic, up-to-the-minute work yet, laying bare the heart of our contemporary world, a world of illusion, delusion, celebrity, and hunger.

In the summer of 1981, a six-foot-three giantess named Medve, built like a shire horse, is residing with her abnormally short family in an almost derelict art deco hotel on an island off the South Devon coast. Then a ginger stranger arrives, stinking of antiseptic.

__________________________________________ 'One of the funniest, most finely achieved comic novels, even by her own standard ... I think it's a masterpiece.' ALI SMITH 'I think Nicola Barker is incapable of a dull page. [Her work] is unified by its spirit of adventure.' KEVIN BARRY How long does it take to change the world? Could it happen in approximately twenty minutes? Charles, a forty-year-old teddy bear maker, is trying to sell his late mother's house, helped by his estate agent Avigail (who thinks Charles is an imbecile). The prospective buyers: the fearsome Wang Shu - who has no desire to make idle chit-chat - and her downtrodden daughter, Ying Yue. During the twenty-minute viewing a huge number of things happen, although it is also entirely possible that nothing happens at all. Which is it? Can the world really turn on its axis during a mundane discussion about cheese preservation? Has fiction the power to do that? Should it even want to? __________________________________________ 'She really is a genius.' GUARDIAN 'Life-affirming hilarity - Evelyn Waugh on ecstasy.' NELL ZINK 'A madly brilliant little book that asks who at any point is in control of what. I loved it.' DAILY MAIL 'Nicola Barker's wildness and capacity for the absurd often delight me.' SARAH MOSS 'What an audacious writer Nicola Barker is ... In an era when plot is king, Barker has typically, joyously, dispensed with one ... Barker's pleasure in the novella feels defiant.' EVENING STANDARD 'I Am Sovereign is bursting with energy, compassion and humour.' LITERARY REVIEW 'Barker is a writer in a class of her own ... A work of coruscating intelligence, of deep humanity.' OBSERVER 'A riotous burst of a novel that scrutinises the nature of fiction with the lightest of touches.' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'A bracing, brilliantly bonkers comic novel ... This is freewheeling fiction that delights in the visual.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Barker's writing is very, very funny, both ha ha and strange ... Fans of Ali Smith's "Seasonal Quartet" will enjoy a similarly arch, detached view on the banality of contemporary Britain ... A gloriously audacious blend of, well, the deep and the trite.' INDEPENDENT