Come and tell me some lies - Raffaella Barker

Gabriella lives in a damp, ramshackle, book-strewn farmhouse in Norfolk with her tempestuous poet father and unconventional mother. Alongside her ever expanding set of siblings and half-siblings, numerous pets and her father's rag-tag admirers, Gabriella navigates a chaotic childhood of wild bohemian parties and fluctuating levels of poverty. Longing to be normal, Gabriella enrols in a strict day school, only to find herself balancing two very different lives. Struggling to keep the eccentricities of her family contained, her failure to achieve conformity amongst her peers is endearing, and absolute.
Come and Tell Me Some Lies is Raffaella Barker's enchanting first novel - a humorous, bittersweet tale of a girl who longs to be normal, and a family that can't help be anything but.

Raffaella Barker, daughter of the poet George Barker, was born and
brought up in the Norfolk countryside.
She is the author of seven
acclaimed novels: Come and Tell Me Some Lies, The Hook, Hens
Dancing, Summertime, Green Grass, A Perfect Life
and Poppyland.
She has also written a novel for young
adults, Phosphorescence.
She is a regular contributor to the
Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph, and teaches on the
Literature and Creative Writing BA at the University of East Anglia and
the Guardian UEA Novel Writing Masterclass.
Raffaella Barker
lives by the sea in north Norfolk.www.raffaellabarker.co.uk@raffaellabarker

A gentle, charming account of a family of cosmopolitan sophistication living in a rural shambles ... What emerges at the end ... is an enormous sense of privilege in growing up among such vibrant, affectionate characters
Evening Standard

The whole is suffused with love. To write well and with such open-hearted affection is an achievement
Observer

A funny, though sometimes melancholy, story of irresponsible and drunken bohemianism ... A clever and touching debut
Guardian

I love Raffaella Barker's books - so funny and acerbic
Maggie O'Farrell

[A] highly assured beginning ... She writes beautifully ... combining, with apparent ease, emotion and admirable precision
Independent on Sunday