Description

‘This book is heaven. Elspeth Barker writes like no one else’
OLIVIA LAING

‘Deserves to be permanently on the bedside table – to cheer, reassure and inspire’
OBSERVER

‘Gothic, poetic and exuberantly funny. What a pleasure it was to read’
ESTHER FREUD

‘Joyous, startling, funny, lush, dark and complex’
THE TIMES

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.

This collection of autobiographical essays from the inimitable Elspeth Barker, author of the beloved modern classic O Caledonia, is a delightful portrait of a riotous, rapturous, remarkable life.

Publisher Review

This book is heaven. Elspeth Barker writes like no one else. -- Olivia Laing, author of CRUDO What a pleasure it was to read Notes from the Henhouse. An original voice, gothic, poetic and exuberantly funny. -- Esther Freud, author of HIDEOUS KINKY Elspeth Barker speaks her mind fearlessly, and her mind is scintillating. Witty, caustic, erudite - as fiercely funny in writing about heartbreak and mortality as she is about drunken dinner parties and delinquent dogs. -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett A masterclass in the art of the personal essay. These pieces - about pigs, and loss, and the delicate balance between art and life - are vital, and funny, and true. Though memoir, they have a powerful ambiguity, like the very best short stories. -- Charlie Gilmour, author of FEATHERHOOD Elspeth Barker is magnificent, the most underrated British writer of the last century. I loved Notes from the Henhouse so much. Laugh-out-loud funny, sad and beautiful, these essays are a revelation, full of love and joy and life lessons (never go for a man who will intentionally step on a frog and be pragmatic about hens). I will read them again and again. -- Camilla Grudova, author of CHILDREN OF PARADISE