Harry Parker

After being wounded as a soldier in Afghanistan, former serviceman Harry Parker began writing in order to come to terms with what had happened to him. What started as a therapeutic exercise developed into a promising—and immediately much-discussed—debut: Anatomie van een soldaat (Anatomy of a Soldier).

On Wednesday 30 March, Harry Parker will appear at BorderKitchen to talk about this war novel.

Parker’s own experiences form the basis of his novel. The protagonist Tom Barnes, like Parker himself, loses both his legs after stepping on a bomb. He must then learn to cope with the transformation from commander to amputee. But the book is remarkable for several other reasons: Parker follows characters on both sides of an unnamed conflict, and the story is told from the perspective of various objects (such as a bicycle and a bag of fertiliser), creating a disorienting and compelling effect. The chapters are not arranged in chronological order: “I wanted them to be something you could, in a sense, throw into the air and read in any order, because that’s what it feels like to be blown up. The idea of creating a puzzle with each chapter appealed to me. I wanted the reader to ask: ‘Where am I?’” says Harry Parker.

Journalist and writer Rosan Hollak will conduct the (English-language) interview on the evening.

Imagine a man named Tom Barnes, or BA5799, commander of a British platoon in a war zone. And imagine two boys in a distant region growing up together, flying kites and sharing a bicycle. Then foreign soldiers arrive and the boys drift apart. Picture the man who trains one of them for armed conflict, not only against the unbelievers but also against the father of the other boy. Bring in their families and friends as well—people on all sides of this conflict, caught between opposing forces.

But experience all of this not through the eyes of those involved, but through the objects surrounding them: a shoe, a helmet, a vast stack of dollars, a drone, the shared bicycle, a firearm, a bag of fertiliser, a medal, a beer glass, a snowflake, an identity tag, a devastating explosion that binds them all together, and the various medical instruments used afterwards. The result is a novel that bears witness to the extraordinary courage of Captain Barnes and all those involved in this harrowing story.

With Anatomie van een soldaat, Harry Parker claims his place among the small group of classic war novels that truly convey what war means for those who fight it.

Harry Parker grew up in Wiltshire. He studied at Falmouth College of Art and University College London. At the age of 23, he joined the British Army and served in Iraq in 2007. He lost both legs in an explosion during his final deployment in Afghanistan in 2009. He now works as a writer and artist and lives in London. In his spare time he sea-kayaks.

“It is a novel of such concentrated intensity and chilling achievement. It is gripping and unflinching, yet open to every nuance of feeling.” – Hilary Mantel

“A brilliant book, straight from the combat zone.” – Edna O’Brien

Anatomy of a Soldier will be published in March 2016 by Hollands Diep. The book is translated by Paul van der Lecq.

Date: Wednesday 30 March
Start time: 20.00
Location: Paard van Troje, Prinsegracht 12, The Hague
Tickets: €7.50 – available via the BorderKitchen website