Notes from the henhouse On marrying a poet, raising children and chickens, and writing
Book - 2024
"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 Henhouse, 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, depic...ting the vagaries of raising a large family and assorted pets in a damp and drafty farmhouse. Vivid, charming, and wholly original, Notes from the Henhouse is a wonderful glimpse into the life of an extraordinary writer"--
- Subjects
- Genres
- autobiographies (literary works)
Autobiographies
Essays - Published
-
New York :
Scribner
2024.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Other Authors
- Edition
- First Scribner trade edition
- Physical Description
- xx, 216 pages : 20 cm
- ISBN
- 9781668022153
- Introduction
- Life's Motorway
- Part 1. Childhood and Scotland
- Birds of Earth and Air
- Fife
- The Driver's Seat
- Packing for India
- Part 2. Adult Life: George and Children
- Dogs of Athens
- Moment of Truth
- Jealousy
- Memories of George Barker
- Cherubim
- April
- Hens I Have Known
- Part 3. Widowhood
- In Vagliagli
- The Longest Goodbye
- Broken Hearted
- Part 4. New Chapter of Life
- Thoughts in a Garden
- Friendly Fire
- The Dress
- Spring
- Portia
- Amphibians
- Dog Days
- Auf Wiedersehen, Pets
- Moving On
- Miscellany
- Three Norfolk Artists
- The Dance
- Down by the Sea
- Missing
- Carborundum
- In the Cage
Review by Kirkus Book Review