The Joy-Ride and After was A.L. Barker's third collection of shorter pieces, first published in 1963. It offers three novellas, linked by certain recurrent characters and by their variations on the themes of loneliness and insecurity.
The first tells of what has led to a young garage-hand 'borrowing' his employer's car, and of the disastrous consequences that ensue. In the second, a betrayed wife loses her memory after an accident, and finds herself on a barge with an old reprobate. The third concerns the tribulations of a canteen manager who has an inscrutable boss and an extravagant wife. Whether they live in slum tenement or suburban semi-detached, these 'ordinary' people become alive and phenomenal to us through the force and sympathy of Barker's imagination.
- ISBN10 0571305628
- ISBN13 9780571305629
- Publish Date 20 November 2014 (first published 17 September 2009)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Faber & Faber
- Edition Main
- Format eBook
- Pages 278
- Language English