O Caledonia

For years, scientists have asked the question: can a gothic novel where the protagonist dies on the first page still manage to be funny, lively, and affecting? O Caledonia is here to say — the answer is yes. Recommended By Nicole S, Powells.com

Elspeth Barker is one of those rare writers whose charisma can be felt through the page. Originally released in 1991, her only novel is an enigmatic, poetic, and dark-but-humorous story that plays with genre and Gothic aesthetic. Our young heroine, Janet, is ill-fated and yet the story is not about her end; it is an illumination and a celebration of her life in spite of the end. To fans of castles, brooding landscapes, witty narrative, or the Bronte sisters: run, don't walk, to the shelves for a copy of O Caledonia! Recommended By Katie P, Powells.com

In the tradition of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a darkly humorous modern classic of Scottish literature about a doomed adolescent growing up in the mid-19th century — featuring a new introduction by Maggie O'Farrell, award-winning author of Hamnet.

Janet lies murdered beneath the castle stairs, attired in her mother's black lace wedding dress, lamented only by her pet jackdaw...

​Author Elspeth Barker masterfully evokes the harsh climate of Scotland in this atmospheric gothic tale that has been compared to the works of the Brontës, Edgar Allan Poe, and Edward Gorey. Immersed in a world of isolation and loneliness, Barker's ill-fated young heroine Janet turns to literature, nature, and her Aunt Lila, who offers brief flashes of respite in an otherwise foreboding life. People, birds, and beasts move through the background in a tale that is as rich and atmospheric as it is witty and mordant. The family's motto — Moriens sed Invictus (Dying but Unconquered) — is a well-suited epitaph for wild and courageous Janet, whose fierce determination to remain steadfastly herself makes her one of the most unforgettable protagonists in contemporary literature.

"Beautifully lyrical evocations of place and emotion." — Kirkus Review

"Though the novel opens with Janet newly dead, murdered on a staircase, it is full of life, energized by Ms. Barker's thistle-sharp eye for natural detail." — The New York Times

"A surreal, hilarious, and dark story of a troubled adolescence deep in the wilds of Scotland. I once decided to become friends with someone on the sole basis that she named O Caledonia as her favourite book." — Maggie O'Farrell, author of Hamnet

In her career as a novelist and journalist, Elspeth Barker wrote for The Independent, The Observer (London), The Sunday Times (London), London Review of Books, and many others. Elspeth also taught Latin at what she described as a naughty girls' school on the Norfolk coast and worked as a tutor and lecturer in creative writing at the Norwich School of Art and Design. She published her first novel, O Caledonia, at the age of fifty-one. O Caledonia was awarded the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. Elspeth was married to the poet George Barker and died in 2022.