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| Elspeth Barker | |
Journalist and author Elspeth Barker, whose "first and only novel, O Caledonia, was once described by the novelist Ali Smith as 'the best least-known novel of the 20th century,' " died April 21, the Guardian reported. She was 81. In 2021, 30 years after its first publication, O Caledonia was reissued "and found its place as a modern classic of Scottish literature. The book has achieved international success and will be published this September by Scribner in the U.S. and is set to appear in France, Spain (and also in Catalonia), Estonia and Italy."
Alexandra Pringle recalled that she was a publisher at Virago Press in the late 1980s "and one of my authors, Raffaella Barker, Elspeth's daughter, suggested to me that her mother should write a novel. On the strength of a few pages of vivid, lyrical and funny prose, I commissioned her and took the book with me to Hamish Hamilton, where it was published in 1991." O Caledonia won four literary awards, including the Winifred Holtby prize, and was shortlisted for the Whitbread first novel prize.
The book "tells the glittering, darkly funny story of the short life of a young girl, Janet, who lives in a bleak Scottish castle, calls her cats subjunctives, keeps a jackdaw as a pet and learns poetry by heart. The only bright spot in her life is her risqué Cousin Lila, whose room rattles with empty whisky bottles and smells of Schiaparelli's Shocking and Craven A cigarettes," the Guardian noted.
Barker became a regular contributor to the Independent on Sunday, and also wrote for London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian and the Observer. In 1997, she published Loss: An Anthology, with extracts ranging from Ecclesiastes, Ovid and Horace, through Ben Jonson, John Donne, Rilke, Yeats and Housman, to Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath and Carol Ann Duffy, and finally a short piece by her daughter Raffaella, about her father's funeral. In 2012, her selected journalism, Dog Days, appeared.
In a tribute on Facebook, British bookseller the Book Hive in Norwich posted a tribute to the "dearly beloved friend and writer," noting: "We waited until her funeral on Thursday 5th May to pay our tribute. Henry Layte (owner of The Book Hive) gave the eulogy. You can read his speech now over on our website... under the 'Elspeth Barker' button. There is also a video posted by the family on YouTube of the reading from the service.... Because we believe in the value of this book so much, we will be offering a free copy to anyone who buys one, in order that they may pass it on and spread the word of the amazing piece of work.... Here's to you, Elspeth."