{"id":7031226,"date":"2026-08-07T02:24:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T02:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/twenty-books-of-summer-20bos26-no-13-reversed-forecast-by-nicola-barker-annabookbel\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T02:24:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T02:24:37","slug":"twenty-books-of-summer-20bos26-no-13-reversed-forecast-by-nicola-barker-annabookbel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226","title":{"rendered":"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019ve now read 17\/20 and am rather behind on my reviews, but here\u2019s the next one for you\u2026<\/p>\n

The second of my Barker Books<\/a> reads this summer is her debut novel from 1994. This was a re-read for me and all I could remember was that there\u2019s a greyhound in it \u2013 but the cover does rather give that away!<\/p>\n

Set in Soho and Hackney, Barker\u2019s debut mainly follows Ruby, from the Soho bookies where she works as a cashier to the dog track in Hackney. <\/p>\n

\n

She\u2019s bold, she\u2019s tall. Whe the men on the market call her a Big Girl, and they do, she spits out her tongue. Her short, unruly, badly bleached hair initially distracts attention from her large, red lips and black-lined eyes. (\u2026) her clothes are fashionable but not showy. (This is no place to be showy. Soho is cheap-showy.) She has green eyes and five hooped earrings in each ear. Until recently her nose was pierced too.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Events kick off when Vincent causes trouble in the shop and gets arrested. But somehow Ruby, being a softie was intrigued and takes pity on the homeless man and takes him back to her flat after paying his bail. He will become an unlikely sofa-surfing flatmate, but promises he will repay her. She doesn\u2019t really believe him but <\/p>\n

The other main strand involves Samantha and her family, her mother Brera, with whom she is a double-act The Goldhawk Girls. Many of their songs are written by her sister Sylvia. Sylvia is really quite ill; she is allergic to birds; but she loves birds and lets them into her bedroom in the Hackney tower block where they roost and poop all over it \u2013 giving the flat a rather ripe aroma, and her terrible health problems, physically and mentally. They\u2019re expecting a visit from Steven, who might become their manager.<\/p>\n

Ruby has always wanted to race dogs, she works at the kennels at the track weekends when she can. When Don offers her a dog for \u00a3900, a bitch called Buttercup, she can\u2019t resist, even though the dog has problems, and she doesn\u2019t have \u00a3900. But Vincent comes up with a plan to get Buttercup to chase the hare. <\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

We alternate between the two threads until they converge at the end of the novel, and Sylvia and Ruby in particular wilL have individual reckonings. Barker\u2019s cast of characters, led by Ruby, are a bunch of quirky misfits who need to find out how they all fit together to make up the jigsaw puzzle of life (apologies for that metaphor!), The locations are not glamorous \u2013 even the Hackney dog track is a lesser relative of the big one at Walthamstow \u2013 you\u2019ll even learn about the strategies in greyhound racing should you be at all interested. Full of life, Barker\u2019s debut novella (creeping in at 193 pages) is a delight and a sign of good things to come. <\/p>\n

Source: own copy<\/strong>. First published 1994. 4th Estate paperback, 193 pages. BUY<\/strong> at Amazon UK<\/a><\/strong> or Waterstones<\/strong><\/a> via my affiliate links.<\/p>\n

\n

Like this:<\/h3>\n

Like<\/span><\/span> Loading…<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve now read 17\/20 and am rather behind on my reviews, but here\u2019s the next one for you\u2026 The second of my Barker Books reads this summer is her debut novel from 1994. This was a re-read for me and all I could remember was that there\u2019s a greyhound in it \u2013 but the cover […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7031227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[194876,3915,6772,1752,19365,30577,26314,539,7408],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7031226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-20bos26","tag-annabookbel","tag-barker","tag-books","tag-forecast","tag-nicola","tag-reversed","tag-summer","tag-twenty"],"yoast_head":"\nTwenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve now read 17\/20 and am rather behind on my reviews, but here\u2019s the next one for you\u2026 The second of my Barker Books reads this summer is her debut novel from 1994. This was a re-read for me and all I could remember was that there\u2019s a greyhound in it \u2013 but the cover […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T02:24:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"327\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-07T02:24:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"20BOS26\",\"AnnaBookBel\",\"Barker\",\"Books\",\"Forecast\",\"Nicola\",\"Reversed\",\"Summer\",\"Twenty\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226\",\"name\":\"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-07T02:24:37+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg\",\"width\":327,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel - Som2ny Network","og_description":"I\u2019ve now read 17\/20 and am rather behind on my reviews, but here\u2019s the next one for you\u2026 The second of my Barker Books reads this summer is her debut novel from 1994. This was a re-read for me and all I could remember was that there\u2019s a greyhound in it \u2013 but the cover […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2026-08-07T02:24:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":327,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel","datePublished":"2026-08-07T02:24:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226"},"wordCount":529,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg","keywords":["20BOS26","AnnaBookBel","Barker","Books","Forecast","Nicola","Reversed","Summer","Twenty"],"articleSection":["Books"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226","name":"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-07T02:24:37+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Rev-Forecast-Barker.jpg","width":327,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031226#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Twenty Books of Summer #20BOS26 No 13 \u2013 Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker \u2013 AnnaBookBel"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7031226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7031226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7031226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7031227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7031226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7031226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7031226"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=7031226"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=7031226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}