Darkmans is a very modern book, set in Ashford [a ridiculously modern town], about two very old-fashioned subjects: love and jealousy. It's also a book about invasion, obsession, displacement and possession, about comedy, art, prescription drugs and chiropody. And the main character? The past, which creeps up on the present and whispers something quite dark — quite unspeakable — into its ear.
The third of Nicola Barker's visionary narratives of the Thames Gateway, Darkmans is an epic novel of startling originality.