Pat Barker

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the Booker prize-winning novelist Pat Barker. Pat Barker was 39 when she had the phone call every writer dreams about - her first book, Union Street, was to be published. The book went on to be made into a film, Stanley and Iris, with Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep. Initially she wrote about the hard lives of working-class, Northern women, and the compromises some made in order to survive. But she became a household name for her Regeneration trilogy about World War I and its aftermath - the final book in the series, The Ghost Road, won the 1995 Booker prize. In Desert Island Discs she discusses her writing, her inspiration, the importance of her grandparents in her upbringing and what it was like growing up as a 'mistake' - a war-time baby born to her unmarried mother.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Dawn (The First of Sea Interludes) by Benjamin Britten Book: Book on tropical fish to identify them Luxury: Snorkelling equipment