Come And Tell me Some Lies

by Raffaella Barker

Raffaela Barker is the daughter of poet George Barker and novelist Elspeth Barker. This book tells of her childhood up to and including the death of her father. It tells of a father/daughter relationship, and of a childhood spent in bohemian poverty in Norfolk with four siblings and step-siblings.

Genres: Fiction, Adult Fiction

Hardcover

First published July 6, 2000

About the author

Raffaella Barker was born in London in 1964 and moved to Norfolk when she was three. Her father, the poet George Barker, had 15 children; she is the oldest of those by the novelist Elspeth Barker.

She spent her childhood in Norfolk sulking and refusing to get dressed, going everywhere in her nightie. She recalls worrying about how to respond at school when asked how many brothers and sisters she had. She did not know the answer.

After Norwich High School, Raffaella Barker moved to London and did life modelling and film-editing. She landed a job on Harpers & Queen magazine and later freelanced as its motoring columnist. For 10 years she wrote a column for Country Life about her week.

Her debut novel Come and Tell Me Some Lies was published in 1994, followed by The Hook, Hens Dancing, Summertime, Green Grass, the children's book Phosphorescence and A Perfect Life.

Divorced, she lives in Norfolk with her three children aged 17, 15 and eight.

Reviews

[Shawn Mooney (Shawn Breathes Books)]

Let's just pretend this never happened, shall we?

[Sally Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fabulous read - I devoured it in a day! The lyrical narrative and gentle humour were like a rambling conversation with a slightly eccentric friend. Even the hopping about between narrators and timelines which could potentially have been irritating, just weren’t. I was genuinely sad when I reached the final page.

[Keli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis- Gabriella has many siblings and more animals. Her father is an impoverished poet, her mother a classicist. This is the story of Gabriella and her brothers, and their unorthodox childhood in this wayward family.

Review- This kind of reminded me of an English and less humorous version of Running with Scissors. It had the mad, unorthodox family with a semi-normal protagonist trying to grow up amongst the weirdness. The prose is beautiful. Ms Barker's writing is elegant and easy without being pretentious. I particularly liked the complexity of the characters. No one is wholly good or wholly bad, much like real life. I admire how the author wove poverty, abuse, neglect, love, poetry, talent, need and dependency together to show how these things shaped the family and shaped our main protagonist's life without going to far into the ugliness to diminish the beauty, but neither shying away from the inexcusable or making it palatable. Wonderful Norfolk find.

Rating - Four family drama stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Devoured the book, couldn't put it down.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really liked it, consumed within days
⭐⭐⭐ - Enjoyed a fair bit, better than average
⭐⭐ - Meh
⭐ - Absolute drivel

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable memoir disguised as fiction. Gabriella, the protagonist/narrator - it switches from first to third person - is clearly the author Raffaella, and so it was odd to try to pretend otherwise. The short chapters jump about in time: one strand tells the story of the early childhood of Gabriella, then known as Va Va; another (first person) her early to mid teens; and a third from her grown up, twenty-something perspective. To begin with I had to keep reminding myself which time-frame we were in, but I soon got into the swing of it and the details of the somewhat eccentric, bohemian family life are charming, the characters of her parents coming through strongly by way of little anecdotes and snatches of dialogue. It was almost too brief, sketches of a life that I wanted to know more about in more detail.

[Sian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pleasant speedy read, with plenty to keep me wanting to read on. It felt like autobiography under the thin guise of fiction, and I think that helped it’s compelling nature somewhat. However, as good as the writing was, nothing of note really jumped out at me - I wasn’t desperate to see what happened next, there was no definitive plot line to follow. I did also think the timeline was tricky to follow at times, it seemed to jump from event to event, back and forth with sometimes random shifts in POV that didn’t really affect the narrative. Overall a pretty standard book.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written story of a bohemian family. I really enjoyed the interesting structure - the chapters jump about in time and in narrative voice. Although I could see how that would annoy some readers. It doesn’t have a strong plot, but I really appreciated how it captures the story of a family over time. A great read.

[Susie Bubbles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feel good warm hearted tale of a hippy family was spoiled for me by constant switching between timeframes and between first and third person narration.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for the second time some 15 years later.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It jumped about a fair bit but I liked having to do a bit of working out. I probably liked it because I had a fairly unconventional childhood in Norfolk myself!

[Linda]

I only got as far as the 2nd chapter too jumbled and nonsensical.

[Lucy Simonnet · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a beautifully written book, definitely one that I will come to for comfort. She has a way of writing that is entirely relatable and perfectly descriptive of the trials and joys of growing up.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took a while to get into its storytelling stride. It was a bit all over the place at the beginning. Settled into a more understandable back and forth in time pattern after a while, but it still wasn't particularly clear. Read like one of those autobiographies of an eccentric, unconventional family, but the fact that it was fiction detracted from it. Got through it but didn't love any of the characters or feel much affinity for any of them. Eh.

[M F]

This was a moving and well-written book, but it wasn't really my thing. It was a bit too literary. A character grows up. That's kind of all that happens -- there isn't a plot outside of that. And while it's got some emotional moments, I prefer books with a bit more story. Ah well. Provides a bit of variety to my reading material, anyway.

[Clare Coffey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that the characters were excellent and that the story line was good.
I wanted to know more about the characters as I turned each page of the book. I thought that the father was an excellent character and having read a bit about Barker, I realise that the book is almost autobiographical.

[Gillian Lowey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Raffaella Barker. Feel like I'm in her world as soon as I start reading. A great bit of escapism.

[Donna Boultwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable story, with lovely Norfolk connections. I didn't like the way it jumped between the years. It made me confused who was who. Looking forward to reading more of her books.

[Jennie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really want to like this book but it's leaving me cold.

Maybe I just have too much I'm reading at the moment. I do enjoy Ms. Barker's voice however.

[Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read. Really interesting family / characters and I liked the way the tale moved between the years. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. A pure joy to read!

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved 'Summertime' for a light read, but just couldn't seem to get into this.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a weird book.