She was born in
St Pauls Cray,
Kent, and brought up in
Beckenham. She was an only child. When Barker turned 16, her father sent her to work at a clockmaking firm, as he did not approve of her seeking further education. She was also the winner of the inaugural
Somerset Maugham Prize in 1947, with her collection of short stories called
Innocents. While not commercially successful during her lifetime, her writing has been well regarded by the literary critics and other authors over time.
Gerald Murnane's novel
Inland refers to Barker's 1981 book
Life Stories. In 1992, the
BBC Radio produced dramatic readings for five of Barker's stories. ==Bibliography==