'Strange and magical - Barker goes from strength to strength.' - Sunday Telegraph 'A singular, soaring, stratospheric talent.' - Scotland on Sunday 'Devastatingly funny and totally original - only Will Self can match her for black humour and bizarre fabrications!No one else in England writes like this. Don't miss this book.' - Tatler 'A witty, demotic and unique talent.' - The Times 'The language is unfussy, direct, at times colloquial, and then, just when it is needed to produce the right emotional counterpoint, elegant and formal!What could have been heavy-handed in another writer's hands is here transformed into something light, enchanting and moving. Heading Inland achieves everything it sets out to do. Highly recommended.' - Literary Review 'Another extremely accomplished collection. The writing is sharp, intricate and stylish. Each story presents its own particular and perfectly realized world - Nothing is too weird or too ordinary for Nicola Barker. I can think of few writers who can make me think of Joe Orton one minute and Saul Bellow the next.' - Guardian

Nicola Barker was born in Ely in 1966 and spent part of her childhood in South Africa. Among her seven previous novels are 'Darkmans' (short-listed for the 2007 Booker and Ondaatje prizes, and winner of the Hawthornden) and 'Wide Open' (winner of the 2000 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award). She has also written two prize-winning collections of short-stories, 'Love Your Enemies' and 'Heading Inland', and her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in east London.