Nicola Barker’s “Darkmans” was nominated for the 2007 Man Booker Prize, but did not win. At over 800 pages of absurd digressions, quirky characters, and genre-bending brio, it is not a novel for everyone. Personally speaking, though, I find “Darkmans” even more relevant today than it was on its publication. Years before fascism and social media discourse became a popular topic of discussion, Barker predicted an age of spectacle that would link the opacity of the present day with the Middle Ages. The cast of “Darkmans,” who struggle to find happiness in the town of Ashford, are repeatedly thwarted by the ghost of a jester from the 14th century. It’s like a very British “Twin Peaks,” if BOB was a real person instead of a monster possessing a familiar face.
“Darkmans” wasn’t marketed as a fantasy, and folks may find its inclusion confusing on a list that includes relatively straightforward genre fiction like “The Farseer Trilogy.” But fantasy is just as useful an ingredient as it is a genre onto itself. The novel is satisfying enough as a black comedy about broken people, but it’s the constant destabilizing presence of the ghost that makes it really great. I don’t trust a team in the United States to handle this material, but a talented crew located in the United Kingdom could do something fascinating with it.
