Agnes is Joanna Hunter’s aunt, with whom she lived during school holidays as a teenager. Joanna found Agnes and her husband, Oliver, to be cold and unloving and has never forgiven them for this. When Joanna disappears, Neil claims that she’s gone to visit Agnes, but Louise’s investigation soon reveals that Agnes recently died of a stroke and that she and Joanna had not been in contact for a long time.
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Agnes Barker Character Timeline in When Will There Be Good News?
The timeline below shows where the character Agnes Barker appears in When Will There Be Good News?. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Outlaw
...tells her about Joanna’s sudden trip to see her sick aunt, whom he identifies as Agnes Barker . Louise thinks that Joanna has “a very handy aunt.”
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A Good Man Is Hard to Find
...Alison Needler’s house, thinking about the elderly aunt. Some basic online research had revealed that Agnes Mason Barker had been an actress in her youth and married a BBC radio producer. But when...
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Abide with Me
...the Cotswolds. After her father moved to Los Angeles, she spent holidays with her “dreadful” Aunt Agnes and Uncle Oliver, whom she could never forgive “for not wrapping her in love.” She...
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Reggie Chase, Warrior Virgin
...baby wipes, Dr. Hunter’s inhaler, her driving glasses, and her Filofax—which contains an address for Agnes Barker in Hawes.
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The Prodigal Wife
Louise and Marcus knock at the address of Agnes Barker . The big, unattractive renter who answers the door has never heard of her, but...
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...winding up helpless and set aside. The girl at the reception desk informs them that Agnes Barker can’t meet with them—she died a couple of weeks ago of a massive stroke, leaving...
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A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
...in terror, then calms and lets her in. Louise tells him they’ve figured out that Aunt Agnes is dead. She asks him if Joanna has been kidnapped, and he doesn’t respond. She...
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