The Marlowe Papers

A big, clever, vividly wrought work of conspiracy fiction, filled with impeccable but lightly worn research. Elizabethan England, in all its stifling atmosphere of repression - writers were regularly being imprisoned and having their hands cut off - is brought to life by Barber's faultless poet's ear...[she]cannily uses the poetry to do just what any prose narrative aspires to: it's sharp, concise, stunningly visual. - Sunday Times - Robert Collins

This rich and charmingly playful work avoids the potential for whimsy inherent in such an undertaking. The thrill at reimagining the events and era comes through wave after wave in Barber's blank verse. - Adam O'Riordan, Sunday Telegraph

The Marlowe Papers grips. - John Sutherland, The Times

This is effortlessly better stuff than many far more trumpeted poets can produce, even on a good day...The Marlowe Papers is the best read, so far, this year. - Martin Newell, Sunday Express

this highly ambitious debut makes for an engrossing read...brought to life by smatterings of exquisitely poetic descriptions and turns of phrase worthy of the Bard himself, whoever he was. - Time Out

This terrifically accomplished and enjoyable novel/play/poem, call it what you like, restores one's faith in English fiction. - Fay Weldon

Lush, inspired and provocative, this spellbinding dossier conjures up a bewitching Marlowe. - Kirkus

Barber ingeniously weaves the action of the plays and sonnets into her story...The verse is subtle and varied enough never to disturb the ear, and in fact you forget that you're reading poetry at all. This is no bawdy cod-Shakespearean romp. - Suzi Feay, Financial Times