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In Notes from the Henhouse, you will find: A Gothic castle, a
draughty Norfolk farmhouse and a malevolent Aga A pet pig, Portia
with a penchant for drama, an obsession with geraniums and an
addiction to wine (the Bulgarian vintage) George Barker, poet and
beloved husband, warbling cowboy songs into his glass and
declaiming Hopkins and Houseman in The Drinking Room Five
entrancing baby cherubimos, rolling and bouncing about in a big
brass bed, before growing up at breakneck speed The ecstasy of
writing, the dither of procrastination, and the endless adventures
to be had in the wild realms of the imagination The outrage of
death, the loneliness of widowhood, and then the surprising joys of
dereliction: of moving very slowly round the garden in a shapeless
coat, planting drifts of narcissus bulbs for latter springs.
'I once decided to become friends with someone on the sole basis
that she named O Caledonia as her favourite book' Maggie O'Farrell
'A sparky, funny work of genius and one of the best least-known
novels of the 20th Century' Ali Smith 'Funny, surprising,
exquisitely written and brilliant on the smelly, absurd, harsh
business of growing up. The Bronte sisters and Poe via Dodie Smith
and Edward Gorey' David Nicholls 'An absolute sumptuous treat of a
book' Elizabeth Macneal 'A wonderful oddity - brief, vivid,
eccentric, written with ferocious zest and black humour' Penelope
Lively 'The words sing in their sentences' The Times 'The reader
feels unalloyed joy on every page' Independent Vera was painting
the pony's hooves gold in the dining room; Janet said this was bad
for him; poison would seep into his bloodstream. At the bottom of a
great stone staircase, dressed in her mother's black lace evening
dress, twisted in murderous death, lies Janet. So end the sixteen
years of Janet's short life. A life spent in a draughty Scottish
castle, where roses will not grow, and a jackdaw decides to live in
the doll's house. A life peopled by prettier, smoother-haired
siblings, a Nanny with a face like the North Sea and the peculiar,
whisky-swigging Cousin Lila. A life where Janet is perpetually
misunderstood - and must turn from people, to animals, to books, to
her own wild and wonderful imagination. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
MAGGIE O'FARRELL
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O Caledonia (Paperback)
Elspeth Barker; Introduction by Maggie O'Farrell
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R416
R311
Discovery Miles 3 110
Save R105 (25%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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A sharp and witty collection of autobiographical essays by the late
Elspeth Barker--acclaimed journalist and author of the beloved
modern classic O Caledonia. Following the publication of her
acclaimed, darkly funny novel O Caledonia, Elspeth Barker's sharp
and witty essays appeared regularly in the national press. Notes
from the Hen House, a selection of the most personal of these
pieces, welcomes readers into the celebrated writer's life. Tracing
Barker's upbringing from her Scottish roots, these essays
beautifully capture her time with the poet George Barker and her
profound sense of loss following his death. She writes about
George's former lover Elizabeth Smart and other figures from 1950s
bohemia and 1960s counterculture. Pieces like "Thoughts in a
Garden," equal parts hilarious and moving, read like dispatches
from the front lines of country living, depicting the vagaries of
raising a large family and assorted pets in a damp and drafty
farmhouse. Vivid, charming, and wholly original, Notes from the Hen
House is a wonderful glimpse into the life of an extraordinary
writer.
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