''The Eye in the Door'' is a novel by Pat Barker, first published in 1993, and forming the second part of the ''Regeneration'' trilogy. ''The Eye in the Door'' is set in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, beginning in mid-April 1918, and continues the interwoven stories of Dr William Rivers, Billy Prior, and

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...

begun in '' Regeneration''. It ends some time before the conclusion of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

later the same year. The third part of the trilogy, '' The Ghost Road'', continues the story. Whereas ''Regeneration'' is an anomalous, but not unique, mixture of fact and fiction, ''The Eye in the Door'' acknowledges real events, including the campaign against homosexuals being waged that year by right-wing MP Noel Pemberton Billing, and the conviction of activist

Alice Wheeldon Alice Ann Wheeldon (27 January 1866 – 21 February 1919) was a British supporter of universal and women's suffrage and anti-war campaigner. She was convicted in 1917, along with her daughter, Winnie, and son-in-law, Alfred Mason, of conspiracy ...

for attempted assassination of Prime Minister David Lloyd George, here subsumed with the character named Beatrice Roper, but the whole remains consistently within the realm of fiction. This grants Barker more freedom to explore her characters and their actions, the descriptions of which might be considered libellous if attributed to real people. A major theme of the book, Prior's intense and indiscriminate bisexuality, is effectively contrasted with Rivers's tepid asexuality and Sassoon's pure homosexuality. Greater fictional scope also permits a deeper treatment of the psychological, political and professional life of the central character, Billy Prior.

Real people who appear in the ''Regeneration'' trilogy

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

* Charles Lutwidge Dodgson *

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...

* Henry Head * Edward Marsh *

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced b ...

* William Rivers * Robert Baldwin Ross *

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...

Harold Sherwood Spencer Harold Sherwood Spencer (April 12, 1890 – August 26, 1957), also known as Howland Spencer, was an American writer and anti-homosexuality and antisemitic activist during and after World War I. He was closely associated with Noel Pemberton Bill ...

* Lewis Yealland *

(Beatrice Roper) * Hettie Wheeldon (Roper) 1993 British novels Novels by Pat Barker Novels set during World War I Novels set in London Fiction set in 1918 Viking Press books {{1990s-WWI-novel-stub