Book 5 – “Union Street” by Pat Barker

Pat Barker is an author whose books I often pick up and which I rarely regret. You can read my review of one of her war books here – she writes beautifully about the effect of the two world wars on people, relationships and families. One of my favourite of her books is The Silence of the Girls which is a retelling of the siege of Troy from the point of view of the women involved. This covers much the same ground as Madeleine Miller’s The Song of Achilles (see here for my review) but from a very different point of view and, in my opinion, is a much stronger book – I have recently read the sequel and will review it soon.

Union Street is Pat Barker’s first published novel and is a stand-alone. It was first published in the early 1980s but the context of the book implies that the story takes place before that although it cannot be clearly dated. The book is a series of short stories about women or glimpses into their lives – all of them live on one street. There are references from one story to another and some characters reappear but each individual story focusses on one woman. The final story in the book links back to the first story giving you the impression that the names may change but the same stories will continue.

The book is set in a Northern city (not names but almost certainly in Yorkshire because of some of the phrases used) and Union Street is a poor street. It’s not the poorest in the city but everyone, especially those receiving benefit payments, is struggling. Each woman featured is at a different stage in her life and all of them have been affected by poverty – they have few expectations for the future and some of them have given up hope.

All the results of poverty on women are shown in these stories. One young girl experiences rape, a much older woman faces losing her independence, domestic violence is prevalent, illegal abortions are still required, there are often too many mouths to feed, women who sell sex are trapped in the trade, and everyone faces death and disease. These are not weak women but the author shows us how life events, lack of money and the way that society is structured work against these characters.

This is very powerful writing and I was blown away by much of it. The book was full of despair but yet each character was well developed and believable. The book is harsh and uncompromising and sad – the author has created no happy ending for her characters but the writing is compelling. This is life as it was, and often still is, for women trapped in poverty.