* by one of the finest chroniclers of the lives of northern working-class women

'A modern-day masterpiece' SUNDAY TIMES

'The third, Liza's England, in many ways the most moving of the trilogy, tracks the life of a northern working-class woman from the beginning of the century to well into Thatcher's reign, exploding feminist myths as readily as political ones' BELINDA WEBB, GUARDIAN

Dauntless Liza Jarrett, born at the dawn of the twentieth century, is now in her eighties, frail and facing eviction with her cantankerous parrot Nelson, when she is visited by Stephen, a young gay social worker. As she learns to trust him, she recalls her life - her embittered, exhausted mother, her shell-shocked spiritualist husband, her beloved son and chaotic daugter. Their friendship, deepening with the unfolding of their stories, comes to sustain Liza through her last battle and brings new courage to Stephen.

"A modern-day masterpiece" - Sunday Times

"The third, Liza's England, in many ways the most moving of the trilogy, tracks the life of a northern working-class woman from the beginning of the century to well into Thatcher's reign, exploding feminist myths as readily as political ones. Barker's women do not want equality with men - their men are just as powerless as they are, seeking solace only in drinking, fighting and fucking" - Guardian

"Readers turn to Barker's novels for their plain truths and clear-eyed sense of our history and creation stories" - Sunday Times