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O Caledonia
The sixteen years of Janet's life begin on a fogbound winter night in wartime Edinburgh. Her father, home on leave, peering into the blue wicker basket, comments, "It's about the size of a cat." Later, as sibling after sibling appears, Janet finds herself slipping further and further toward the periphery of family life. Brought up in the unrelenting chill of Calvinism and the Scottish climate, she turns from people to animals, to literature, and to her own fertile imagination.
Written with lyricism, poignance, and great unexpected flashes of humor, the novel traces the chain of events that, in the dour setting of Scotland in the 1940s and 50s, cause the bizzare death of a young girl. People, birds, and beasts move in a gleeful danse macabre through a lowering landscape in a tale as rich in atmosphere as it is witty and mordant.
Written with lyricism, poignance, and great unexpected flashes of humor, the novel traces the chain of events that, in the dour setting of Scotland in the 1940s and 50s, cause the bizzare death of a young girl. People, birds, and beasts move in a gleeful danse macabre through a lowering landscape in a tale as rich in atmosphere as it is witty and mordant.
152 pages, Paperback
First published August 19, 1991
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About the author
Elspeth Barker
5 books101 followersElspeth Barker was a novelist and journalist. She was educated in Scotland and at Oxford.
Barker's novel O Caledonia won four awards and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. She has reviewed extensively and written features for the Independent on Sunday, Guardian, Sunday Times, Observer, LRB, TLS, Harpers & Queen, Scotland on Sunday, Country Living, Vogue, etc. She edited the anthology Loss for Dent/Orion in 1997.
Her first husband was the poet George Barker by whom she had five children, including the novelist Raffaella Barker. In 2007 she married the writer Bill Troop.
Barker's novel O Caledonia won four awards and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. She has reviewed extensively and written features for the Independent on Sunday, Guardian, Sunday Times, Observer, LRB, TLS, Harpers & Queen, Scotland on Sunday, Country Living, Vogue, etc. She edited the anthology Loss for Dent/Orion in 1997.
Her first husband was the poet George Barker by whom she had five children, including the novelist Raffaella Barker. In 2007 she married the writer Bill Troop.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,685 reviews
January 18, 2023
Brilliantly written, but not for me. Too bleak, and the characters were just AWFUL.
June 17, 2023
https://instagram.com/p/CqDWTB_rDWU/
A stunning hidden gem on the dark side of adolescence and reputation in 20th century Scotland. Dark, unearthly, and filled the mystical moodiness of desire, impulse, and daydreams, we follow the unloved and unbreakable Janet, as she navigates sibling rivalry, societal boundaries, and the judgement of family and strangers alike. From birth til untimely death, she is misunderstood, mistaking it begrudged, and a victim of the stereotypes and restrictions associated with being a woman. Janet, in all her flaws and misadventures, all her hateful acts and dreams for love and freedoms, is a tragically beautiful ode to all “dreamy, academic sorts”, all those who find solace in solitude and creativity, all who defy oppressors, gossipers, defenders of the status quo. She is the embodiment of all who are punished for wanting more, pursuing more, deserving more. A genius and haunting novella.
A stunning hidden gem on the dark side of adolescence and reputation in 20th century Scotland. Dark, unearthly, and filled the mystical moodiness of desire, impulse, and daydreams, we follow the unloved and unbreakable Janet, as she navigates sibling rivalry, societal boundaries, and the judgement of family and strangers alike. From birth til untimely death, she is misunderstood, mistaking it begrudged, and a victim of the stereotypes and restrictions associated with being a woman. Janet, in all her flaws and misadventures, all her hateful acts and dreams for love and freedoms, is a tragically beautiful ode to all “dreamy, academic sorts”, all those who find solace in solitude and creativity, all who defy oppressors, gossipers, defenders of the status quo. She is the embodiment of all who are punished for wanting more, pursuing more, deserving more. A genius and haunting novella.
September 9, 2022
Well, this was certainly a different sort of story!
A gothic coming of age story set in the wilds of Scotland.
It was very atmospheric, dark, and funny.
Set in a remote castle..
At the very start of the story..Janet, the oldest sibling, the wayward girl, is found murdered in a bloody heap near the staircase while the rest of the family is away.
So, then it tells us her story up until this time.
A very bookish, restless girl who lived in her own fairytale world.
Quite an entertaining read!
"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,
Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for the ARC.
A gothic coming of age story set in the wilds of Scotland.
It was very atmospheric, dark, and funny.
Set in a remote castle..
At the very start of the story..Janet, the oldest sibling, the wayward girl, is found murdered in a bloody heap near the staircase while the rest of the family is away.
So, then it tells us her story up until this time.
A very bookish, restless girl who lived in her own fairytale world.
Quite an entertaining read!
"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,
Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for the ARC.
January 29, 2021
How can a book that begins with a murdered teenage girl be so delightful? When it is about the short life of the marvelously endearing misfit, Janet. Janet grows up in a decaying castle on the northern coast of Scotland following WWII. She is often unable to engage with people, as she “recognized in herself a distaste for people, which was both physical and intellectual; and yet she nurtured a shameful, secret desire for popularity, or at the very least for acceptance, neither of which came her way”. She nevertheless feels deeply and passionately about the natural and ancient worlds, and would rather spend her time reading. She struggles to have a relationship with her mother and aunt and doesn’t seem able to connect with other girls at school, because she “seemed to lack some essential quality of girlishness”. Wonderful prose, wonderful character, and just a pleasure to read.
September 8, 2022
There are five-star books, and then there are the books that I call "essentials." A truly wonderful read earns five stars, but to qualify as an essential, the book has to have a particular magic that makes me know I'll be rereading it, probably more than once.
Elspeth Barker's O Caledonia is an essential.
In the simplest terms, O Caledonia is a coming-of-age novel about a girl growing up in Scotland during and after WWII. Janet, the central character, is a sort of goth, female Holden Caufield. The promo material for O Caledonia compares this title to Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and that's a fair comparison. The books are each their own creatures, but each has an hypnotic sense of menace balanced by spirit. Janet is not Merricat, but I can absolutely picture the two of them sitting down together for what would be a lively, far-ranging conversation with all sorts of twists and turns.
In a world where women are still supposed to aim for marriage and raising children, where women's education is seen as acceptable, but not an end in itself, Janet—who is absolutely brilliant—finds herself an outsider no matter where she is: school, home, church. She has a deep empathy for living creatures, with the exception of humans who are less interesting than other animals and far more confusing. She has a quirky sense of humor that reflects her intelligence and education, but affectionate jokes about cats and the subjunctive aren't what win friends in any of the situations she finds herself in.
If you've grown up with a Panglossian perspective, feel comfortable anywhere, trust that things will always turn out for the best, and are certain that people you meet will like you, you might not enjoy O Caledonia. If, on the other hand, you have ever felt like an outsider, felt misunderstood, felt as if you were being forced into a social role that's a terrible fit, felt that life has an inherent tragedy that too many people fail to recognize—O Caledonia will ring with a truth and beauty that you'll find deeply affirming.
Find this title, read it. In fact, just go ahead and buy it, rather than borrowing it from a friend or the library because once you've read it you'll be wanting to read it again. And again. Trust me.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
Elspeth Barker's O Caledonia is an essential.
In the simplest terms, O Caledonia is a coming-of-age novel about a girl growing up in Scotland during and after WWII. Janet, the central character, is a sort of goth, female Holden Caufield. The promo material for O Caledonia compares this title to Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and that's a fair comparison. The books are each their own creatures, but each has an hypnotic sense of menace balanced by spirit. Janet is not Merricat, but I can absolutely picture the two of them sitting down together for what would be a lively, far-ranging conversation with all sorts of twists and turns.
In a world where women are still supposed to aim for marriage and raising children, where women's education is seen as acceptable, but not an end in itself, Janet—who is absolutely brilliant—finds herself an outsider no matter where she is: school, home, church. She has a deep empathy for living creatures, with the exception of humans who are less interesting than other animals and far more confusing. She has a quirky sense of humor that reflects her intelligence and education, but affectionate jokes about cats and the subjunctive aren't what win friends in any of the situations she finds herself in.
If you've grown up with a Panglossian perspective, feel comfortable anywhere, trust that things will always turn out for the best, and are certain that people you meet will like you, you might not enjoy O Caledonia. If, on the other hand, you have ever felt like an outsider, felt misunderstood, felt as if you were being forced into a social role that's a terrible fit, felt that life has an inherent tragedy that too many people fail to recognize—O Caledonia will ring with a truth and beauty that you'll find deeply affirming.
Find this title, read it. In fact, just go ahead and buy it, rather than borrowing it from a friend or the library because once you've read it you'll be wanting to read it again. And again. Trust me.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
June 21, 2025
“Here it was that Janet was found, oddly attired in her mother’s black lace evening dress, twisted and slumped in bloody, murderous death.”
I’ll start by saying that this is not a spoiler – the above appears on the very first page of this strange but wonderful little novel! The remainder of the reader’s time is spent learning about Janet’s short, sixteen years of existence and wondering how the poor girl will reach such a demise. This is a gothic story set in an isolated castle home in Scotland and is probably best read during the dark, gloomy months of winter for full effect. Reading it as summer approached was highly gratifying though, too.
“Auchnasaugh, the field of sighing, took its name from the winds which lamented around it almost all the year, sometimes moaning softly, filtered through swathes of pine groves, more often malign, shrieking over the battlements and booming down the chimneys, so that the furnace which fed the ancient central heating system roared up and the pipes shuddered and the Aga top glowed infernal red.”
In a nutshell, this is a coming-of-age story. Janet is misunderstood and found to be odd – by both strangers as well as her own family. I wasn’t always sure if I liked Janet, but I most definitely sympathized with her. She loves books, the outdoors, and animals. She’s not particularly fond of her fellow human beings. Who can blame her?! They haven’t taken the time to try to understand her, and she lives without affection. The love of her short life is a jackdaw with a crossed beak who had been tossed from the nest to die. No doubt she felt an affinity towards this abandoned creature.
“It was a rigorous life, but for Janet it was softened by the landscape, by reading, and by animals whom she found it possible to love without qualification. People seemed to her flawed and cruel.”
This is a dark story, but one that is laced with some biting humor as well. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I love that kind of thing – it lightens the tone every now and then. Janet’s mother, Vera, fails to demonstrate any fondness towards her daughter, but she takes a lot of the blame from the neighborhood gossips for raising such an “abnormal” child. Her father, too, takes a portion of that responsibility. It was his idea to open up a school for boys and allow his daughters to attend.
“… they all thought Vera went too far in her choice of children’s reading; and she smoked cigarettes and wore slacks.”
“… they blamed everyone and everything they could think of, but in the end there was grim assent: ‘The lass had only herself to blame.’ The subject lost its appeal and was closed in favour of the living, who offer continuous material for persecution.”
The prose is luscious, the story highly compelling, and Janet an unforgettable protagonist. My only wish is that this could have gone on a lot longer. Unfortunately, I knew from the start that this wasn’t going to end well. I just didn’t get to spend enough time in Janet’s company. I wanted to see her escape that dreadful existence and live happily ever after with her books, her jackdaw and the hope of meeting someone, someday, who would truly see her! Highly recommended 4.5 stars!
“Janet’s name was no longer mentioned by those who had known her best. She was to be forgotten.”
I’ll start by saying that this is not a spoiler – the above appears on the very first page of this strange but wonderful little novel! The remainder of the reader’s time is spent learning about Janet’s short, sixteen years of existence and wondering how the poor girl will reach such a demise. This is a gothic story set in an isolated castle home in Scotland and is probably best read during the dark, gloomy months of winter for full effect. Reading it as summer approached was highly gratifying though, too.
“Auchnasaugh, the field of sighing, took its name from the winds which lamented around it almost all the year, sometimes moaning softly, filtered through swathes of pine groves, more often malign, shrieking over the battlements and booming down the chimneys, so that the furnace which fed the ancient central heating system roared up and the pipes shuddered and the Aga top glowed infernal red.”
In a nutshell, this is a coming-of-age story. Janet is misunderstood and found to be odd – by both strangers as well as her own family. I wasn’t always sure if I liked Janet, but I most definitely sympathized with her. She loves books, the outdoors, and animals. She’s not particularly fond of her fellow human beings. Who can blame her?! They haven’t taken the time to try to understand her, and she lives without affection. The love of her short life is a jackdaw with a crossed beak who had been tossed from the nest to die. No doubt she felt an affinity towards this abandoned creature.
“It was a rigorous life, but for Janet it was softened by the landscape, by reading, and by animals whom she found it possible to love without qualification. People seemed to her flawed and cruel.”
This is a dark story, but one that is laced with some biting humor as well. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I love that kind of thing – it lightens the tone every now and then. Janet’s mother, Vera, fails to demonstrate any fondness towards her daughter, but she takes a lot of the blame from the neighborhood gossips for raising such an “abnormal” child. Her father, too, takes a portion of that responsibility. It was his idea to open up a school for boys and allow his daughters to attend.
“… they all thought Vera went too far in her choice of children’s reading; and she smoked cigarettes and wore slacks.”
“… they blamed everyone and everything they could think of, but in the end there was grim assent: ‘The lass had only herself to blame.’ The subject lost its appeal and was closed in favour of the living, who offer continuous material for persecution.”
The prose is luscious, the story highly compelling, and Janet an unforgettable protagonist. My only wish is that this could have gone on a lot longer. Unfortunately, I knew from the start that this wasn’t going to end well. I just didn’t get to spend enough time in Janet’s company. I wanted to see her escape that dreadful existence and live happily ever after with her books, her jackdaw and the hope of meeting someone, someday, who would truly see her! Highly recommended 4.5 stars!
“Janet’s name was no longer mentioned by those who had known her best. She was to be forgotten.”
December 18, 2022
Aw, dammit Janet. I blame Lila. And your mother. Anyone but you.
March 26, 2017
In sentences bursting with images and perfectly audacious words; in paragraphs that unfurl book-length narratives; with quirky characters deeply familiar as if spun from dreams; Elspeth Barker tells a simple, sad, joyous story of Janet, an odd duck of a Scottish girl, understood by no one, a misfit who only feels truly alive in spasms of communion with books or the natural world. My delight in her was just this side of a cringe. Unforgettable.
July 13, 2025
Quoth the Jackdaw...
Nevermore
5 stars. Sixteen-year-old Janet was dead, the victim of a bloody, murderous death while alone in the family castle...
She was wearing her mother's black lace evening dress...
Janet was not a well-liked child...
So...
Her family buried her in haste so that the incident, the circumstances, and Janet herself could be quickly forgotten by all...
Her only mourner was her pet jackdaw...
This story is a whodunit, but it is also the story of Janet's life from birth (during WWII) until her death...
Her world was one of stuffy tweed jackets, nannies, strict parents, perfect siblings, strange pets, stone cold castles...
And the wildness of the Scottish Highlands...
Janet was buried in the village churchyard...
After the grass had grown over her grave, her name was no longer spoken by those who knew her. She was to be forgotten...
Quoth her jackdaw: Nevermore...
Some reviewers compared this story to novels by Shirley Jackson, but as I got to the end, LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR by Judith Rossner came to my mind.
It is the story of a deep-thinking young girl who is a social misfit, so she seeks the company of books and animals. She sees herself as a princess in a castle who is misunderstood by her parents and other adults, even when she is trying to do good deeds for others.
While I rated the story 5 stars, it is not for everyone, and I think if you're looking for a conventional read, you may be disappointed by the meandering storyline with an unconventional plot. I like this kind of story, and for me, it was perfect.
BTW, the events from the story cited in my review are not spoilers. They are the beginnings of the story.
Nevermore
5 stars. Sixteen-year-old Janet was dead, the victim of a bloody, murderous death while alone in the family castle...
She was wearing her mother's black lace evening dress...
Janet was not a well-liked child...
So...
Her family buried her in haste so that the incident, the circumstances, and Janet herself could be quickly forgotten by all...
Her only mourner was her pet jackdaw...
This story is a whodunit, but it is also the story of Janet's life from birth (during WWII) until her death...
Her world was one of stuffy tweed jackets, nannies, strict parents, perfect siblings, strange pets, stone cold castles...
And the wildness of the Scottish Highlands...
Janet was buried in the village churchyard...
After the grass had grown over her grave, her name was no longer spoken by those who knew her. She was to be forgotten...
Quoth her jackdaw: Nevermore...
Some reviewers compared this story to novels by Shirley Jackson, but as I got to the end, LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR by Judith Rossner came to my mind.
It is the story of a deep-thinking young girl who is a social misfit, so she seeks the company of books and animals. She sees herself as a princess in a castle who is misunderstood by her parents and other adults, even when she is trying to do good deeds for others.
While I rated the story 5 stars, it is not for everyone, and I think if you're looking for a conventional read, you may be disappointed by the meandering storyline with an unconventional plot. I like this kind of story, and for me, it was perfect.
BTW, the events from the story cited in my review are not spoilers. They are the beginnings of the story.
October 6, 2022
SPOOKTOBER IS ALL AROUND US!!!
also, i won this in the goodreads giveaways! which i forgot i had entered and had already bought a copy. but that just meant i was able to give MY copy away so now i am myself a giveaway program.
review to come...
May 5, 2023
The world is a cruel place for outsiders. At no point in one’s lifetime is this more true than in childhood. Janet is a girl who does not fit in—anywhere. Not among her family, her peers, or in greater society. After early wartime years spent in a tiny Scottish seaside village, she and her family move north to a mouldering old castle which her father inherited on the condition that he allow his widowed cousin Lila to remain there. Janet loves living at Auchnasaugh, as the castle is known. It is a place of isolation and decay, but also of wild natural beauty—a perfect place for a certain type of child.
Janet is a sensitive, intelligent girl whose interests and predilections shape her into the kind of pariah one would unfortunately expect her to become. Yes, she makes tentative inroads with befriending the reclusive, fungi-loving Lila, whom the rest of the family studiously avoids. But Lila lives steeped in whisky and encircled by an emotional moat too deep for crossing. Despite Janet’s unflagging efforts, it is clear there is no solace to be found for her in their relationship. Perhaps her greatest chance at connection is with the jackdaw fledgling she nurses to adulthood. After all, it is with nonhuman beings that she appears to identify with most. But a girl and a bird can still only understand each other so far.
O Caledonia is one of those books that opens with a shocking revelation. And so it is that we know from the very beginning what Janet’s future holds. Yet, this knowledge doesn’t stifle one’s hope for her to find some common bond, however slight, amidst the harshness of so much of the human company that surrounds her. Some readers will see shards of themselves in Janet. And these are likely the readers who will enjoy Elspeth Barker’s often grim, but also darkly humorous, tale of one girl’s struggles to navigate the indifference of this world. It is a novel grown on a gritty fictional substrate formed from earlier literary clay by the likes of Barbara Comyns and Janet Frame—a peculiar strain of modern literature where gothic and slightly surreal elements push the narrative just beyond realism. In turns odd, smart, and sharp in its wit, this writing excels at enshrining the outsiders among us. One can only hope that there will always be writers who carry on this tradition.
Janet is a sensitive, intelligent girl whose interests and predilections shape her into the kind of pariah one would unfortunately expect her to become. Yes, she makes tentative inroads with befriending the reclusive, fungi-loving Lila, whom the rest of the family studiously avoids. But Lila lives steeped in whisky and encircled by an emotional moat too deep for crossing. Despite Janet’s unflagging efforts, it is clear there is no solace to be found for her in their relationship. Perhaps her greatest chance at connection is with the jackdaw fledgling she nurses to adulthood. After all, it is with nonhuman beings that she appears to identify with most. But a girl and a bird can still only understand each other so far.
O Caledonia is one of those books that opens with a shocking revelation. And so it is that we know from the very beginning what Janet’s future holds. Yet, this knowledge doesn’t stifle one’s hope for her to find some common bond, however slight, amidst the harshness of so much of the human company that surrounds her. Some readers will see shards of themselves in Janet. And these are likely the readers who will enjoy Elspeth Barker’s often grim, but also darkly humorous, tale of one girl’s struggles to navigate the indifference of this world. It is a novel grown on a gritty fictional substrate formed from earlier literary clay by the likes of Barbara Comyns and Janet Frame—a peculiar strain of modern literature where gothic and slightly surreal elements push the narrative just beyond realism. In turns odd, smart, and sharp in its wit, this writing excels at enshrining the outsiders among us. One can only hope that there will always be writers who carry on this tradition.
March 27, 2025
Deliciously bleak and grim. Loved this! 🖤
“It seemed to her then that the nature of Caledonia was a pitiless nature and her own was no better.”
Confession: I love tragic stories. The more times a book gut punches me, the happier I am. And if the ending is terribly sad, I’m thrilled. Which means O Caledonia is the perfect book for someone whose bookish heart is as cold and cruel as mine.
The book opens on the corpse of a girl dressed in black lace. It is sixteen-year-old Janet, lying in a pool of blood after having been murdered.
If you’re wondering what happened to her, fear not, for you will know by the end. But first, Elspeth Barker takes us back in time to the day of Janet’s birth. She then escorts us through a coming-of-age story that spans the tumultuous years of Janet’s life leading up to the moment when she is murdered.
Barker has crafted a world that is dreary and foreboding, and my little black heart loved it! Think dead orchards and colorless skies, whipping winds and deepening shadows, rotting boards and decaying animal corpses. There is very little light to be found in Janet’s world, which makes her tragic coming-of-age story a suitable spooky season read.
Even though I felt the second half of this book slowed a little, I loved the first half and could not look away from the final pages. Cannot recommend this book highly enough if you love lyrically written tragic tales about forlorn children.
“It seemed to her then that the nature of Caledonia was a pitiless nature and her own was no better.”
Confession: I love tragic stories. The more times a book gut punches me, the happier I am. And if the ending is terribly sad, I’m thrilled. Which means O Caledonia is the perfect book for someone whose bookish heart is as cold and cruel as mine.
The book opens on the corpse of a girl dressed in black lace. It is sixteen-year-old Janet, lying in a pool of blood after having been murdered.
If you’re wondering what happened to her, fear not, for you will know by the end. But first, Elspeth Barker takes us back in time to the day of Janet’s birth. She then escorts us through a coming-of-age story that spans the tumultuous years of Janet’s life leading up to the moment when she is murdered.
Barker has crafted a world that is dreary and foreboding, and my little black heart loved it! Think dead orchards and colorless skies, whipping winds and deepening shadows, rotting boards and decaying animal corpses. There is very little light to be found in Janet’s world, which makes her tragic coming-of-age story a suitable spooky season read.
Even though I felt the second half of this book slowed a little, I loved the first half and could not look away from the final pages. Cannot recommend this book highly enough if you love lyrically written tragic tales about forlorn children.
October 16, 2023
O Caledonia byElspeth Barker
A very descriptive and detailed book. A coming of age story that really didn't bring me any joy.
A short book in pages and yet a very slow burn. This is a novel that is prose showy and plot thin and these type of books really don't rate highly for me.
This book was chosen for me to read by my monthly subscription club. I love the surprise of the book arriving in the post every month and while this one will not make my real life bookshelf, I can happily pass it along to someone will enjoy the read.
A very descriptive and detailed book. A coming of age story that really didn't bring me any joy.
A short book in pages and yet a very slow burn. This is a novel that is prose showy and plot thin and these type of books really don't rate highly for me.
This book was chosen for me to read by my monthly subscription club. I love the surprise of the book arriving in the post every month and while this one will not make my real life bookshelf, I can happily pass it along to someone will enjoy the read.
October 12, 2023
From the opening paragraph, we know that Janet has been murdered at the young age of 16. What led to this pivotal event? From there, we move back to the beginning to explore Janet’s life.
Janet is “coming of age” in a society that doesn’t accept her uniqueness, her differences. She doesn’t fit in with her family or her fellow students. Where she does fit in is with her animals- her pets and in the wildness of her surroundings where they live in northern Scotland. Her other passion are her books!
The author has created a unique portrait of a girl at odds with those around her. Does she retain herself as she wants to be or should she try and conform? At moments, I found it difficult to like her; at moments I felt utterly sorry for her and at other moments, I appreciated her uniqueness.
A very lyrical book with a lot of emphasis on the natural outdoors. If you enjoy quiet, introspective novels, then you will enjoy this book!
Published: 1991
Janet is “coming of age” in a society that doesn’t accept her uniqueness, her differences. She doesn’t fit in with her family or her fellow students. Where she does fit in is with her animals- her pets and in the wildness of her surroundings where they live in northern Scotland. Her other passion are her books!
The author has created a unique portrait of a girl at odds with those around her. Does she retain herself as she wants to be or should she try and conform? At moments, I found it difficult to like her; at moments I felt utterly sorry for her and at other moments, I appreciated her uniqueness.
A very lyrical book with a lot of emphasis on the natural outdoors. If you enjoy quiet, introspective novels, then you will enjoy this book!
Published: 1991
December 10, 2022
This book has been reissued in a new edition with an introduction written by Maggie O’Farrell, who raves about the book. I did not enjoy “Hamnet”, so I should have known to be skeptical of the rave. I found the book interesting enough but, unlike O’Farrell, I do think that this is a coming of age story about an awkward and eccentric girl. As Janet is just coming into her own at 16, she is murdered. That is not a spoiler- the information is in the first sentence of the introduction, and in the first chapter of the book. It took me 2 days to finish this short book because I wasn’t really captivated by it.
I liked the writing style and the story of Janet’s cousin Lila was compelling. Lila’s story examines the dutiful housing of poor, unloved female relations. Lila was the Russian widow of Janet’s cousin and when Janet’s family moved into a huge Gothic structure, keeping cousin Lila was part of the deal. “At Auchnasaugh she had been neither happy nor unhappy, passing her days in reading, dreaming, painting watercolours of animals, landscape, mushrooms, and politely refusing all contact with the world beyond the glen.” “… Janet, who had taken to reading Edwardian books about isolated, misunderstood young girls whose intelligence and courage were noticed only by one adult friend, decided that Lila was fitted for this part. Her only regret was that neither of them was crippled.” The book is full of quirky details and a lot of dead animals. It culminates in Janet’s death, when she is missed only by her pet jackdaw. 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
I liked the writing style and the story of Janet’s cousin Lila was compelling. Lila’s story examines the dutiful housing of poor, unloved female relations. Lila was the Russian widow of Janet’s cousin and when Janet’s family moved into a huge Gothic structure, keeping cousin Lila was part of the deal. “At Auchnasaugh she had been neither happy nor unhappy, passing her days in reading, dreaming, painting watercolours of animals, landscape, mushrooms, and politely refusing all contact with the world beyond the glen.” “… Janet, who had taken to reading Edwardian books about isolated, misunderstood young girls whose intelligence and courage were noticed only by one adult friend, decided that Lila was fitted for this part. Her only regret was that neither of them was crippled.” The book is full of quirky details and a lot of dead animals. It culminates in Janet’s death, when she is missed only by her pet jackdaw. 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
February 19, 2025
As she moved she realized that the powerful smell of dairy produce emanated from her, from her bosom to be exact. The blobs of double cream which had trickled into her cleavage had turned sour with the heat.
Look, I love a bookish misfit of a girl as much as anyone but I abandoned this book because I just didn't gel with either the writing style or with Janet (I read about 50 pages then skipped to the hunt ball at the end).
Stylistically, this is a 'told' book - the narrator is always in control, everything is seen through their eyes and there's barely any dialogue. We're told, occasionally, what people say via indirect speech but there are few scenes which we can observe. As a result, I felt distanced from both Janet and the story itself: it all carries on and I'm left outside and unmoved.
Which left it hard to empathize with Janet in the way I was supposed to. She's a misanthrope who goes beyond just rejecting social conventions, especially about gender. I started off liking her: her curiosity and the way she gently strokes the stump of a war veteran with an amputated arm, her jealousy over her siblings and her desire for the grey woollen elephant. Her rough ways with the baby are funny, because unintentional - I was reminded a bit of Just William who is always in trouble with grown ups!
But this seems quite a static book and Janet's waywardness feels almost fixed. Unlike Jane Eyre, for example, I never shared her defiant inner world and Janet's only loves are books and animals, something which didn't allow me to come close to her.
There are some odd scenes: the boy masturbating and flashing her; the man who touches her breast - assaults which don't seem to have much effect on Janet: she's always more or less drawn away from human contact and she appears puzzled by these violations.
I didn't even understand the ending
I'm bemused by all the suggested book-alikes: We Have Always Lived in the Castle, I Capture the Castle - Janet is quite the opposite of the charming narrator of the latter, and the relationship between Merricat and her sister humanises them in a way I found lacking in Janet.
I wish I could have felt onside with Janet but I didn't - and Barker's narrative style held me at arm's length throughout.
July 15, 2024
The blurb compares this book to We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I didn’t see that at all; instead, upon finishing, my mind went to Molly Keane’s Good Behaviour. Each novel signals a death in its beginning that occurs at the end. Both are darkly comic, and tragic; the main characters of both don’t fit in with their families or the society around them; their families deem the latter very important and have no interest in accommodating their daughters in any way. In their minds, the daughters are willfully flawed.
The only connection I found with We Have Always Lived in the Castle is that if I’d been able to read O Caledonia when I was an adolescent, I likely would’ve read it repeatedly as well. As it was, upon finishing, I immediately reread the first unnumbered chapter named "Janet."* I didn’t continue on, but it was tempting.
*
After refreshing my memory of the Keane by reading my review, I see I reread Good Behaviour’s first chapter after finishing that book too.
The only connection I found with We Have Always Lived in the Castle is that if I’d been able to read O Caledonia when I was an adolescent, I likely would’ve read it repeatedly as well. As it was, upon finishing, I immediately reread the first unnumbered chapter named "Janet."* I didn’t continue on, but it was tempting.
*
After refreshing my memory of the Keane by reading my review, I see I reread Good Behaviour’s first chapter after finishing that book too.
November 18, 2022
Beautiful writing, but after the brief first "Janet" chapter, I had trouble staying interested in the story. With all the glowing reviews, I may try reading this again down the road.
August 11, 2018
A chilling and lyrical portrait of the inner life of a misunderstood young girl, confused and bewildered by the ways in which she fails to fit into the world. The narrative is episodic rather than a tightly-woven arc, strobing moments in young Janet’s life on a suitably Gothic Scottish crag — the birth of a little sister who is an instant rival, a glimpse of a mutilated animal, the incomprehensibility of schoolmates. But the episodes build in a crescendo of frustration. Each mixed message that Janet receives, each injustice wrought upon her, amplifies her weirdness, in a feedback loop that increasingly exasperates the people who are supposed to love and nurture her.
The friend who recommended this book compared it to Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and the comparison is apt (though the narrative style is quite different; O Caledonia is lyrical and omniscient rather than voicey, intimate, and unreliable). But compared to Merricat, the damaged protagonist of Jackson’s book, Janet is several sigma closer to normal. Janet is an awkward, imaginative, and willful girl, but she is not mentally ill. Rather, she is confused by an environment that simultaneously fosters her uniqueness and punishes her for it. And this makes Janet’s arc even more tragic than that of Merricat. Janet’s ill-fitness for society is not irredeemable. One can readily imagine Janet muddling through life at school and with her stifling family for another year or two, before escaping from her crag and finding a Bohemian community of kindred souls in Edinburgh or London. The slow strangling of Janet’s potential, and the violent end to her life, are all the more tragic for being so patently preventable.
The friend who recommended this book compared it to Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and the comparison is apt (though the narrative style is quite different; O Caledonia is lyrical and omniscient rather than voicey, intimate, and unreliable). But compared to Merricat, the damaged protagonist of Jackson’s book, Janet is several sigma closer to normal. Janet is an awkward, imaginative, and willful girl, but she is not mentally ill. Rather, she is confused by an environment that simultaneously fosters her uniqueness and punishes her for it. And this makes Janet’s arc even more tragic than that of Merricat. Janet’s ill-fitness for society is not irredeemable. One can readily imagine Janet muddling through life at school and with her stifling family for another year or two, before escaping from her crag and finding a Bohemian community of kindred souls in Edinburgh or London. The slow strangling of Janet’s potential, and the violent end to her life, are all the more tragic for being so patently preventable.
November 30, 2022
I love this book! The opening paragraph starts with a description of a stained-glass window at the top of a great stone staircase in a gothic castle in the Scottish Highlands and ends with, “Here it was that Janet was found, oddly attired in her mother’s black lace evening dress, twisted and slumped in bloody, murderous death.” But this is a not a murder mystery. It is a coming of age story of a fiercely intelligent girl who loved animals, nature, books, and the classics.
Janet was a mystery to her parents and younger siblings, she was uninterested in the things her classmates at her girls bording school found thrilling, in short she was at odds with most people, but enjoyed her own company.
The writing is exquisite, Janet is unforgettable, the descriptions of northern Scotland and the North Sea set the mood of the story. This is a nearly perfect book in pacing, characters, prose, and setting. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Janet was a mystery to her parents and younger siblings, she was uninterested in the things her classmates at her girls bording school found thrilling, in short she was at odds with most people, but enjoyed her own company.
The writing is exquisite, Janet is unforgettable, the descriptions of northern Scotland and the North Sea set the mood of the story. This is a nearly perfect book in pacing, characters, prose, and setting. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
September 15, 2025
Cinayetle açılıp “katil kim?” yapısına dönmeyen, büyüme hikâyesini bambaşka bir atmosferde anlatan bir roman Ey Kaledonya. Savaş sonrası İskoçya’sı, dindar bir aile, ailenin yaşadığı kale ve sonrasında yatılı okul metnin evrenini kusursuz şekilde tamamlıyorlar. Hiçbir kalıba sığmayan Janet’in her adımında olduramaması ve daimi ayrıksıklığı da çok incelikli şekilde anlatılıyor. Gotik edebiyattan ilhamını alması, bir büyüme hikayesine farklı yaklaşması ve odağın “ne oldu?” sorusunda değil de “bizi buraya ne getirdi?” sorusunda kalması metni benzerlerinden ayıran en güçlü özelliği. Kısa, yoğun ve akılda kalıcı.
March 7, 2022
A curious thing this, by turns rather lush and beguiling , but also also frustrating and low horizoned.
Elspeth Barker can write - and she draws together a gothic Scottish world that pays worthy homage to Edward Gorey, Gormenghast, The Adams Family and Cold Comfort Farm ….as well as to Shirley Jackson and Dodie Smith. But it’s all sort of too much, the gothic Scottish is ornately draped all over, - mushrooms, mad houses, boarding schools, ravens, dead rabbits, …Janet is hard to really know or understand (perhaps that’s how she feels too, claustrophobic in her own life) and the actual plot, thin like plywood, bending under the weight of all the drapery.
I enjoyed moments of this tremendously - when her sister falls out of a moving car and she silently calls on Sawney Bean to eat her up, rather than take the blame, the last few pages, where Janet is finally free to live as she likes……but in general it was such dressage, so many words, descriptions, dead things, fabrics…..for so little real return. I wanted more for Janet, or perhaps less.
Elspeth Barker can write - and she draws together a gothic Scottish world that pays worthy homage to Edward Gorey, Gormenghast, The Adams Family and Cold Comfort Farm ….as well as to Shirley Jackson and Dodie Smith. But it’s all sort of too much, the gothic Scottish is ornately draped all over, - mushrooms, mad houses, boarding schools, ravens, dead rabbits, …Janet is hard to really know or understand (perhaps that’s how she feels too, claustrophobic in her own life) and the actual plot, thin like plywood, bending under the weight of all the drapery.
I enjoyed moments of this tremendously - when her sister falls out of a moving car and she silently calls on Sawney Bean to eat her up, rather than take the blame, the last few pages, where Janet is finally free to live as she likes……but in general it was such dressage, so many words, descriptions, dead things, fabrics…..for so little real return. I wanted more for Janet, or perhaps less.
January 28, 2023
These are all the writers O Caledonia has been compared to:
Shirley Jackson
Charlotte Brontë
Poe
Dodie Smith
I would personally like to especially apologize to one of my literary gods, Shirley Jackson. I am sorry you have no control over this.
Since finishing this book yesterday, I have been trying to think of all the reasons why I detested this more than anything I have read in the last few years. At first, I thought it was the false advertisement and comparisons to writers to whom there is no resemblance. But I realize it's more than that. It's about how I have changed as a reader and what I seek from the style of writing.
Today morning, as a I started reading Colm Tóibín's introduction to Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda, I found the perfect explanation to my detachment from O Caledonia:
"In some societies, language is a way to restrain experience... It is neither an ornament nor exaltation. Work written in light of this has to be led by clarity, by precise description, by briskness of feeling, by no open displays of anything... The revelation comes from what is left out. The smallest word, or the holding of breath, can have a fierce, stony power."
Also this: "In her best fiction... much is achieved or hinted at by tone, through rhythm, by coiled implication. It is up to the reader to understand the extent of the suffering or the quality of the pain. The less these things are actively named, the more deeply they will be evoked."
Barker's writing is baroque in a way that reminds me of university textbooks - who, what, when, where, why all answered for you - i.e. if university textbooks were lyrically written. This is a style of writing that hammers into your head everything you must think and feel repetitively, and you don't believe anything the writer is trying to convey. Everything feels dead in this book - the lyrical prose that seems hollow; the characters; the situations. Nothing rings true.
As I grow older, I desire beautiful writing that also has white space in between, things left to interpretation and my imagination. Quietness that says more than overwrought meaningless prose. Having said that, many have loved this book so maybe it's just me.
Shirley Jackson
Charlotte Brontë
Poe
Dodie Smith
I would personally like to especially apologize to one of my literary gods, Shirley Jackson. I am sorry you have no control over this.
Since finishing this book yesterday, I have been trying to think of all the reasons why I detested this more than anything I have read in the last few years. At first, I thought it was the false advertisement and comparisons to writers to whom there is no resemblance. But I realize it's more than that. It's about how I have changed as a reader and what I seek from the style of writing.
Today morning, as a I started reading Colm Tóibín's introduction to Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda, I found the perfect explanation to my detachment from O Caledonia:
"In some societies, language is a way to restrain experience... It is neither an ornament nor exaltation. Work written in light of this has to be led by clarity, by precise description, by briskness of feeling, by no open displays of anything... The revelation comes from what is left out. The smallest word, or the holding of breath, can have a fierce, stony power."
Also this: "In her best fiction... much is achieved or hinted at by tone, through rhythm, by coiled implication. It is up to the reader to understand the extent of the suffering or the quality of the pain. The less these things are actively named, the more deeply they will be evoked."
Barker's writing is baroque in a way that reminds me of university textbooks - who, what, when, where, why all answered for you - i.e. if university textbooks were lyrically written. This is a style of writing that hammers into your head everything you must think and feel repetitively, and you don't believe anything the writer is trying to convey. Everything feels dead in this book - the lyrical prose that seems hollow; the characters; the situations. Nothing rings true.
As I grow older, I desire beautiful writing that also has white space in between, things left to interpretation and my imagination. Quietness that says more than overwrought meaningless prose. Having said that, many have loved this book so maybe it's just me.
December 2, 2023
(3.8) This was an interesting book by an author who only wrote one novel. The prose was top notch and poignant, the vocabulary erudite and specific and the rhythm of words flowed very nicely.
It may be harsh to say, but I'm glad this was a 'one and done' type. Even though this book isn't extremely well known, I don't think there could've been anything better written by Barker. She seems to have let it all out in this book with its dry humor and dark undertones.
I'm not saying she didn't have another one in her, yet I believe this is a fitting singular novel and it's nice that history will leave it as it is: a good book.
It may be harsh to say, but I'm glad this was a 'one and done' type. Even though this book isn't extremely well known, I don't think there could've been anything better written by Barker. She seems to have let it all out in this book with its dry humor and dark undertones.
I'm not saying she didn't have another one in her, yet I believe this is a fitting singular novel and it's nice that history will leave it as it is: a good book.
January 1, 2023
The last three books I have read all have adolescents as protagonists. A convincing portrayal of a teenager is a difficult thing for an author to get right, and these books demonstrate that well.
An example of how not to do it, was Paddy Crewe’s My Name Is Yip. It smacks too much of an adult writing about a child. I worked with teenagers for more than 30 years, Crewe just couldn’t convince me with his character.
In Audrey Magee’s The Colony 15 year old James has not long ago lost his father. The arrival on the island of the artist Mr Lloyd is timely for James, seeking a role model and a type of father figure. Despite the carnage of war on the mainland, James puts up a front, and lives his life. Magee’s description of the boy is a highlight of the book.
And the book I am reporting on now O Caledonia, Elspeth Barker which captures the short life of Janet so wonderfully well.
Janet is born in Edinburgh during the Second World War, but soon move to a sprawling old castle in the desolate north of Scotland called Auchnasaugh. Her preoccupied and eccentric parents, who have alternately teased and tolerated their daughter, then leave her to her own devices, increase their brood fourfold, then favour the younger ones. By the time she is sent off to boarding school Janet is curious mix of the mischievous and the bookish, unable to grasp the behaviour of the adults in her world.
Magee evokes the unyielding chill of Calvinism and the Highlands climate to underline Janet’s isolation and loneliness, who, quite unsurprisingly, seeks refuge in the birds and the beasts of the estate.
One of the reasons the book works so well is the contrast of the darker hints of mortality mixed with the innocent escapades of the children. But more than anything, Barker uses an appealingly naughty style of humour that encapsulates the passions and pains of adolescence so well.
We know from page one that Janet is dead at sixteen, but the climatic final pages still come as a shock in a very witty and atmospheric tale.
I read Barker compared to Shirley Jackson, something that attracted me to the book in the first place. But that isn’t fair to either writer. I see Barker as more in the vein of Barbara Comyns, with three aspects of her writing to really enjoy, the sinister, the wit and the period. This was her first, and unfortunately only, novel, published when she was 51. She died in April of this year, at 82.
Here’s a few rather wonderful clips..
(With the excuse of exchanging Christmas presents in the city, Janet, at 14, visits Lila in the asylum, who is asleep, but an inmate from a neighbouring room calls past…)
And,
The jackdaw..
(*Nos contra mundum - Those with some Latin background?? You and me against the world? )
An example of how not to do it, was Paddy Crewe’s My Name Is Yip. It smacks too much of an adult writing about a child. I worked with teenagers for more than 30 years, Crewe just couldn’t convince me with his character.
In Audrey Magee’s The Colony 15 year old James has not long ago lost his father. The arrival on the island of the artist Mr Lloyd is timely for James, seeking a role model and a type of father figure. Despite the carnage of war on the mainland, James puts up a front, and lives his life. Magee’s description of the boy is a highlight of the book.
And the book I am reporting on now O Caledonia, Elspeth Barker which captures the short life of Janet so wonderfully well.
Janet is born in Edinburgh during the Second World War, but soon move to a sprawling old castle in the desolate north of Scotland called Auchnasaugh. Her preoccupied and eccentric parents, who have alternately teased and tolerated their daughter, then leave her to her own devices, increase their brood fourfold, then favour the younger ones. By the time she is sent off to boarding school Janet is curious mix of the mischievous and the bookish, unable to grasp the behaviour of the adults in her world.
Magee evokes the unyielding chill of Calvinism and the Highlands climate to underline Janet’s isolation and loneliness, who, quite unsurprisingly, seeks refuge in the birds and the beasts of the estate.
One of the reasons the book works so well is the contrast of the darker hints of mortality mixed with the innocent escapades of the children. But more than anything, Barker uses an appealingly naughty style of humour that encapsulates the passions and pains of adolescence so well.
We know from page one that Janet is dead at sixteen, but the climatic final pages still come as a shock in a very witty and atmospheric tale.
I read Barker compared to Shirley Jackson, something that attracted me to the book in the first place. But that isn’t fair to either writer. I see Barker as more in the vein of Barbara Comyns, with three aspects of her writing to really enjoy, the sinister, the wit and the period. This was her first, and unfortunately only, novel, published when she was 51. She died in April of this year, at 82.
Here’s a few rather wonderful clips..
(With the excuse of exchanging Christmas presents in the city, Janet, at 14, visits Lila in the asylum, who is asleep, but an inmate from a neighbouring room calls past…)
She snatched the package and ripped it open. “Knickers, knickers, knickers. Knickers, knickers, knickers. These are for me, seein I’ve nane.” She pirouetted, lifting her skirt. Janet averted her eyes. Nudity had no part in her life. “Please do have them, if they’re any use to you,” she began. “Oh, Lady Bountiful, oh, how too too kind.” Beakface was mimicking Janet’s voice; then she resumed her own. “I’ll have them whether you like it or no. Milksop!” she yelled and ran out of the room.
And,
Among the swirling daffodils the old labrador lay out, in the teeth of the gale. Her head was raised, her ears were pricked; alertly she snuffed the air; she watched the world turn, the new season approach. Looking at her Janet thought in sharp sorrow, “I will never see this again,” for now the labrador could scarcely walk; her hind legs were emaciated and she had to be helped in and out and up and down the stairs. Yet she was crouched there, unafraid, welcoming with dignity of whatever was to come, among the reckless, gaudy flowers whose time was even briefer. “Fair daffodils, we weep to see you haste away so soon.” Fair labrador. Sometimes Janet thought that life’s sole purpose was to teach one how to die. As in most spheres, so in this, animals did better than people.
The jackdaw..
“Nos contra mundum, Claws,” she told him. She wondered whether she could teach him to say this. But first he must learn to say “Nevermore”. If she were given any money for Christmas, she planned to spend it on lengths of purple taffeta which she would nail to her walls as a start to redesigning the room in the manner of Edgar Allan Poe.
(*Nos contra mundum - Those with some Latin background?? You and me against the world? )
Want to read
November 13, 2023DNF (for now) @ 40 pages because my book was due back on Libby.
November 30, 2022
“Seven lonely days make one lonely week
Seven lonely nights I cried, cried for you.
Oh, my darling, I'm crying, boo-hoo hoo hoo...”
My dark prayers have been answered (or so I thought). The cover cawed at me as if it was a crow in the deepest, darkest place in the forest. Loring me into the dark depths of hell on earth. It promised me all the delicious darkness and fire of a gothic masterpiece but it was just a tiny spark of a burnt-out lighter.
The cover is creepy and I was into it. I do love a cover that'll make me do a double-take and give me the chills. Then I read the opening chapter titled Janet and I was glued. The writing was beautiful and to start the story with a dead girl will always get me to read on. Alas, that was the best part of this book. I'm not sure what happened but Janet lived a very dull life and I wasn't having it.
O Caledonia started off strong but just wasn't for me in the end. I became bored early on but I pushed through to get to the conclusion. I need to stop reading these types of books because they always disappoint me.
Seven lonely nights I cried, cried for you.
Oh, my darling, I'm crying, boo-hoo hoo hoo...”
My dark prayers have been answered (or so I thought). The cover cawed at me as if it was a crow in the deepest, darkest place in the forest. Loring me into the dark depths of hell on earth. It promised me all the delicious darkness and fire of a gothic masterpiece but it was just a tiny spark of a burnt-out lighter.
The cover is creepy and I was into it. I do love a cover that'll make me do a double-take and give me the chills. Then I read the opening chapter titled Janet and I was glued. The writing was beautiful and to start the story with a dead girl will always get me to read on. Alas, that was the best part of this book. I'm not sure what happened but Janet lived a very dull life and I wasn't having it.
O Caledonia started off strong but just wasn't for me in the end. I became bored early on but I pushed through to get to the conclusion. I need to stop reading these types of books because they always disappoint me.
February 13, 2024
Damnit Janet just about sums it up. Always day-dreaming and doing something wrong. A nightmare to the adults in her life, sixteen-year-old Janet is found murdered on page one. All together now, Damnit, Janet. Scotland in the years after WWII. Crumbling castles and moody glens. But also false teeth and dead seals and Heracleum giganteum. Nature, language, animals, literature. Free of the precociousness of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, to which it is endlessly compared. (This one is better.) Sadly Elspeth Barker's only novel.
August 16, 2022
I'm struggling mightily with rating this book, as it is a perfect example of why flat 1-5 star ratings just don't work.
The writing is superb. Elspeth Barker is very clearly a gifted writer with an outstanding sense of humor. Her characters are nuanced, even the more minor characters, and Janet is a whirlwind of difficult-to-portray teenage angst and emotion. I loved that all of the animals had their own personalities and motivations, and even the landscape itself seemed alive under Barker's pen.
Where I'm stumbling is the story itself. I get it, this is a character-driven novella with stellar insight and lush metaphor. But I just didn't find myself ever engrossed in the story. Enchanted by sentences, paragraphs, words, even — but never by the amalgamation of these individual things into a whole. I didn't care for any of the characters, really, nor could I empathize with Janet. The ending was abrupt, which I'm sure was intentional, and didn't make a ton of sense to me, which was also probably intentional.
And this is where I struggle to rate objectively, if ratings can ever claim to be anything but 100% subjective. I'll settle on a 3.5, somewhere in the middle, because I can appreciate the quality of the writing even though I didn't really enjoy the story.
Thank you to Elspeth Barker, Scribner, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!
The writing is superb. Elspeth Barker is very clearly a gifted writer with an outstanding sense of humor. Her characters are nuanced, even the more minor characters, and Janet is a whirlwind of difficult-to-portray teenage angst and emotion. I loved that all of the animals had their own personalities and motivations, and even the landscape itself seemed alive under Barker's pen.
Where I'm stumbling is the story itself. I get it, this is a character-driven novella with stellar insight and lush metaphor. But I just didn't find myself ever engrossed in the story. Enchanted by sentences, paragraphs, words, even — but never by the amalgamation of these individual things into a whole. I didn't care for any of the characters, really, nor could I empathize with Janet. The ending was abrupt, which I'm sure was intentional, and didn't make a ton of sense to me, which was also probably intentional.
And this is where I struggle to rate objectively, if ratings can ever claim to be anything but 100% subjective. I'll settle on a 3.5, somewhere in the middle, because I can appreciate the quality of the writing even though I didn't really enjoy the story.
Thank you to Elspeth Barker, Scribner, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!
January 24, 2023
I read this yesterday when it was bleak and shadowy outside, dull and quiet inside. It devoured me. This is what needs to be read on a Sunday afternoon in winter when you’re not sleeping well and things are unsettled and you want to stay in that place. I’m watching that show The Staircase where they make us watch Toni Collette brutally die over and over - and this book, which I randomly picked up last week, because look at that cover, opens with a girl lying murdered at the bottom of the stairs, and it ends the same way, and in between it’s absurd and moody and oppressive, and also quite comical. This is how you do a coming-of-age story. 16 torturous years and that’s it.
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