'THIS BOOK IS HEAVEN' OLIVIA LAING
'JOYOUS, STARTLING, FUNNY, LUSH' THE TIMES
'UTTERLY CAPTIVATING' INDIA KNIGHT

Elspeth Barker lived a riotous, rapturous, remarkable life, featuring:

- A gothic castle, a draughty Norfolk farmhouse and a malevolent Aga

- A pet pig named Portia whose penchant for drama leads to 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

From the author of the beloved modern classic O Caledonia, this collection of autobiographical writing gives a joyful insight into the mind of a truly original and enchanting writer.

A W&N Essential with an Introduction by Raffaella Barker

"Elspeth Barker could write about anything and have you longing for more . . . Notes from the Henhouse is a book for which one feels incredulous gratitude. How come, you think, she is not better known? The book deserves to be permanently on the bedside table - to cheer, reassure and inspire . . . [Barker's] essays are sympathetic little masterpieces to which she brings storytelling capacity and an intensity that absorbs as the best fiction does" - THE OBSERVER

"Barker's prose is poetic but not inflated, visceral but smooth . . . Notes from the Henhouse is a vibrant, jubilant testament to both her life and work" - DAILY TELEGRAPH

"A collection of utterly captivating essays about love, children, pigs, dogs, jealousy, grief, ponds, bereavement, widowhood . . . I would also recommend her only novel, O Caledonia, as an optimal curl-up read. I hope I'm not making her sound cosy - she was much too sharp and original for that" - THE TIMES

"Brings joy to the bleak midwinter" - COUNTRY AND TOWN HOUSE MAGAZINE

"Her writing is glorious and this book of essays is a wonder. Every essay is a masterpiece in miniature . . . Barker is a gift and so is this book. Buy one for yourself and one for those you love. It is that sort of book" - BOOK(ISH)

"Elspeth Barker is a writer whose work is so delightful there's almost no point in reviewing it. Why not just fill the page with quotations? . . . Those who have read Barker's only novel know the sweet bitterness and wild glitter of her writing . . . Enchanting" - PERSPECTIVE

"Joyous, startling, funny, lush, dark and complex. The perfect stocking filler, I'd say, for the clever women in your life." - THE TIMES