Description:
Editorial Reviews
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
“If you need proof that novels are the best available technology for placing yourself inside the consciousness of an imaginary figure, “O Caledonia” makes a strong case.” —Molly Young, The New York Times
“This is an extraordinary novel: original, beautiful yet tough, with a sympathetic outsider of a heroine whose tragic fate is depicted on the very first page. . . . Barker’s love of the classics, her focus on mothers and daughters, and her remarkable evocation of landscape, should mark her out as one of Scotland’s principal writers.” —Financial Times
“Elspeth Barker’s is a wholly original literary voice. . . . Steeped in classical allusions, rich in Scottish and natural history, fantastical in its highly wrought characters, this coming-of-age-novella is as passionately intense as it is wittily acerbic. . . . Propelled by the sheer force of words, the horrors and humours plunge on, observed by an eye both youthful and perspicacious. . . . The reader feels unalloyed joy, and occasional winces, on every page.” —The Independent
“O Caledonia is like a bunch of flowers. Vivid images are handed to the reader one after the other and the colours are often freakish.” —The Guardian
“Like I Capture the Castle if it had been written by Shirley Jackson, O Caledonia is biting, comic, and endlessly charming.”—Vox
“O Caledonia delights in defying convention. It is a brooding, scintillating coming-of-age tale, full of delicate fashionings... a lyrical evocation and a hymn to originality.”—The Economist
“O Caledonia is a Gothic coming-of-age story, the Brontes and Poe via Dodie Smith and Edward Gorey. Funny, surprising, exquisitely written—and brilliant on the smelly, absurd, harsh business of growing-up.” —David Nicholls, author of One Day
“A sparky, funny work of genius about class, romanticism, social tradition and literary tradition, and one of the best least-known novels of the 20th century.” —Ali Smith
“A wonderful oddity—brief, vivid, eccentric, written with ferocious zest and black humour.” —Penelope Lively
“Witty, civilized. . . . With ravishing descriptions of nature which manage to be simultaneously rapturous and precise.” —New York Review of Books
“A poetic and passionate description of adolescence. The words sing in their sentences. A world is evoked that has shades of the Brontë sisters and of Poe. . . . O Caledonia sets dreams and longing against Scottish righteousness and judgement, and the resolution is the blade of a skinning knife.” —The Times (London)
“An absolute sumptuous treat of a book.” —Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory
“A poetic and blackly comic account of an unhappy childhood in a remote setting, recreated so sensuously it makes you feel the wind on the heath. Exquisite.” —Independent on Sunday
“Beautifully written. . . . A remarkable debut.” —Times Literary Supplement
“Animals, Sir Walter Scott’s ‘alert and wild’ Caledonia, and literature are central to Elspeth Barker’s marvellously worked and wielded first novel. The love of words, the recognition of their power to give a pulse-beat to narrative, made me think of Djuna Barnes as I read, and re-read, for pleasure O Caledonia.” —Glasgow Herald
“A novel which, like its heroine, is unique. Poetry flows as rich as blood through the veins of this narrative.” —Scotsman
“Beautifully lyrical evocations of place and emotion.” —Kirkus
About the Author
Maggie O’Farrellis the author of the #1 Sunday Times (London)bestselling memoir I Am, I Am, I Am and eight novels, including The Distance Between Us, which won the Somerset Maugham Award; The Hand That First Held Mine, which won the Costa Novel Award; Instructions for a Heatwave, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award; This Must Be the Place, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award; and Hamnet, winner of the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, the 2020 NBCC Award for Fiction, the 2020 Waterstones’ Book of the Year, and was the Fiction Book of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards. She lives in Edinburgh.
Reviews:
5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant, beautifully dark and perfect for fall!
Perfect for fall/winter. A rather unknown female author with a very deep backstory. Spooky and elegantly written. Read the introduction! It’s a don’t miss. If you like Wuthering Heights or dark-ish reads, this is one to add to the collection. Lost ladies of literature approved.
4.0 out of 5 stars Growing up in a Scottish castle.
Beautifully written and full of unexpected events and insights, this account of being young in the sixties on a vast estate in Scotland has one flaw - and it's there on the first page. Why did she have to kill her protagonist? It would have been perfect without that violent sub-plot.
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and tragic
I began reading this and it is not at all what I expected, but so much better. I was dreading Janet's death but was compelled to keep going until the bitter end. This is a book I must own in the original hardcover. A literary gem. Requiescat in pace, Elspeth Barker.
3.0 out of 5 stars Nice creative writing, but meh story
Perhaps I’m just not the right audience for this book. It has some terrific descriptors throughout, but the story just became redundant. I purchased this book impulsively after reading a raving book review. I will donate this book to a free library somewhere. Not a keeper for my library. I would watch the movie if one were to be made out of sheer curiosity as to how they would depict each character and scene. So many archaic terms, I should have read with a dictionary beside me. Perhaps I would’ve gotten a bit more out of it.
5.0 out of 5 stars A short, but wonderful novella
Planning a trip to Scotland and had a hard time finding novels that weren’t schmaltzy romance novels. This was a great read, and no bodices were ripped off! Lol
4.0 out of 5 stars Gothically good
This is a proper literary piece and is along the likes of gothic tales of Famous Authors past but I also read it to be an account of historical fiction, dark satire, coming of age and family fiction. With the way it starts, a murder, you would think it should be part of a murder thriller, as well; but it is briefly mentioned because this is all about the the victim’s life growing up in mid-20th Century. Murder is hardly the topic.The language and writing is mesmerizing and it sucks you in to places of darkness and sorrow for a girl named Janet, who grows up only wanting to be herself but pressured by her parents and society to fit a narrative. It is something we thankfully see girls her age able to live nowadays, without being ostracized. While there still is bullying, it would have been done more so, back then.Janet is a complete introvert, loving her books, not caring about the fashions or acquiring female friendships as long as she has a good book and an animal nearby. She is raised in a wealthy family, the oldest of 5 siblings and she is quickly ignored unless it’s for criticism, once her mother gives birth to the sister born after her.Her parents want the children to fit in and behave to exceed their expectations, which they do except for Janet who is always seemingly doing something wrong, finding trouble or being seen as stubborn. But Janet just wants to be loved as she is. Seeing her grow up, it is a mixture of sadness with small moments of seeing her happy that make you feel a connection to her and made me want to hold her; mother her. And as you find out in the beginning that she was murdered, it’s what also comes after that ultimately shattered my heart.
5.0 out of 5 stars The book is delightfully written.
Almost every page treats the reader to a banquet of exquisite prose and quotable phrases. The character development of the Protagonist is brilliant. You want to hate and sympathize with her simultaneously. I did find certain physical descriptions, one scene in particular "gross". Perhaps it was the author's intent to shock the conscience. It worked. Overall I agree with Ali Smith's assessment that 'O Caledonia' is 'The best least-known novel of the twentieth century. It's a pity that Elspeth Barker only wrote one book.
4.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a classic gothic story
Gothic and a little macabre in tone, O Caledonia is a novel that is at times comical in spite of its strangeness. It’s a dark coming of age story originally published in 1991 that reads like classic literature. Barker’s prose is beautiful and descriptive. She writes in such vivid detail of the Scottish castle, Highland landscape, and Janet’s outlier personality.At the beginning of the novel (and in the synopsis) we learn of sixteeen your old Janet’s fate; she is murdered and found at the bottom of a staircase. However, the point of this novel is not to focus on her death. It reads rather like a summary of Janet’s tragically shortened life and the moments that defined her. Janet is an outcast to her family, friends, and society. She is highly intelligent and imaginative. I loved how she found companionship in books and her love for animals, especially her jackdaw. She is unapologetically herself, often prone to outbursts that reflect her rebuke of societal expectations. There is no “plot” in the traditional sense, which may not work for every reader, but that’s what makes this small and strange novel so unique.
Such a really good story
Such a really good story. Sad and old fashioned dark. So well written and told. Not my usual kind of read or characters but read it over a weekend.
O Caledonia
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Great condition
Arrived quickly in great condition
Such a great novel. Scandalously under appreciated.
I love this book and have read it numerous times over the years. I was delighted to see an e-book edition for sale as now I have a copy with me (on my phone or iPad) at all times. Reading the digital edition is a particular joy as it is now so easy to look up the numerous literary and classical references that pepper the book. Heartily recommended.
A lost modern classic that deserves to be far better known
I am sorry to say that I had never heard of this novel until I read a short article about it in The Guardian newspaper by Maggie O’Farrell, who also wrote the introduction to the recently re-released edition that I read.As a novel it defies easy categorisation, combining elements of history, nature and almost Gothic horror as it tells the life of Janet, a challenging young woman who seemed to spend her life at odds with everyone whom she encountered. As a loner, despite four siblings, she found her greatest refuge in books, of which she was a precocious and prodigious reader. The book also offers an intriguing insight into life in Scotland in the early years after the Second World War. Janet’s family are fairly affluent by normal standards, living in a large house in the Highlands. While there may be sufficient financial resource, there is little in the way of society. The local population are far from welcoming of anyone, and quickly develop deep-rooted suspicions of everyone up at ’The Big House’ (or, more probably, ‘The Big Hoose’).There is a strong feeling of melancholy, not least because we learn in the first few sentences that Janet will be murdered while still a teenager. The book is not, however, the story of her life. It is more a series of hilarious snapshots as she grows up, She is also far from a wholly sympathetic character – she is selfish, often heartless and sometimes downright cruel. She is never boring, though, and the book is almost hypnotic, ensnaring the reader from the first page.I am confused as to why it is not better known, and how it had faded from the public consciousness. It definitely deserves to be better known.
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Visit the Scribner Store
O Caledonia: A Novel
AED9228
Quantity:
Order today to get by 7-14 business days
Delivery fee of AED 20. Free for orders above AED 200.
Imported From: United States
At BOLO, we work hard to ensure the products you receive are new, genuine, and sourced from reputable suppliers.
BOLO is not an authorized or official retailer for most brands, nor are we affiliated with manufacturers unless specifically stated on a product page. Instead, we source verified sellers, authorized distributors or directly from the manufacturer.
Each product undergoes thorough inspection and verification at our consolidation and fulfilment centers to ensure it meets our strict authenticity and quality standards before being shipped and delivered to you.
If you ever have concerns regarding the authenticity of a product purchased from us, please contact Bolo Support. We will review your inquiry promptly and, if necessary, provide documentation verifying authenticity or offer a suitable resolution.
Your trust is our top priority, and we are committed to maintaining transparency and integrity in every transaction.
All product information, images, descriptions, and reviews originate from the manufacturer or from trusted sellers overseas. BOLO is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an authorized retailer for most brands listed on our website unless stated otherwise.
While we strive to display accurate information, variations in packaging, labeling, instructions, or formulation may occasionally occur due to regional differences or supplier updates. For detailed or manufacturer-specific information, please contact the brand directly or reach out to BOLO Support for assistance.
Unless otherwise stated, all prices displayed on the product page include applicable taxes and import duties.
BOLO operates in accordance with the laws and regulations of United Arab Emirates. Any items found to be restricted or prohibited for sale within the UAE will be cancelled prior to shipment. We take proactive measures to ensure that only products permitted for sale in United Arab Emirates are listed on our website.
All items are shipped by air, and any products classified as “Dangerous Goods (DG)” under IATA regulations will be removed from the order and cancelled.
All orders are processed manually, and we make every effort to process them promptly once confirmed. Products cancelled due to the above reasons will be permanently removed from listings across the website.
Description:
Editorial Reviews
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
“If you need proof that novels are the best available technology for placing yourself inside the consciousness of an imaginary figure, “O Caledonia” makes a strong case.” —Molly Young, The New York Times
“This is an extraordinary novel: original, beautiful yet tough, with a sympathetic outsider of a heroine whose tragic fate is depicted on the very first page. . . . Barker’s love of the classics, her focus on mothers and daughters, and her remarkable evocation of landscape, should mark her out as one of Scotland’s principal writers.” —Financial Times
“Elspeth Barker’s is a wholly original literary voice. . . . Steeped in classical allusions, rich in Scottish and natural history, fantastical in its highly wrought characters, this coming-of-age-novella is as passionately intense as it is wittily acerbic. . . . Propelled by the sheer force of words, the horrors and humours plunge on, observed by an eye both youthful and perspicacious. . . . The reader feels unalloyed joy, and occasional winces, on every page.” —The Independent
“O Caledonia is like a bunch of flowers. Vivid images are handed to the reader one after the other and the colours are often freakish.” —The Guardian
“Like I Capture the Castle if it had been written by Shirley Jackson, O Caledonia is biting, comic, and endlessly charming.”—Vox
“O Caledonia delights in defying convention. It is a brooding, scintillating coming-of-age tale, full of delicate fashionings... a lyrical evocation and a hymn to originality.”—The Economist
“O Caledonia is a Gothic coming-of-age story, the Brontes and Poe via Dodie Smith and Edward Gorey. Funny, surprising, exquisitely written—and brilliant on the smelly, absurd, harsh business of growing-up.” —David Nicholls, author of One Day
“A sparky, funny work of genius about class, romanticism, social tradition and literary tradition, and one of the best least-known novels of the 20th century.” —Ali Smith
“A wonderful oddity—brief, vivid, eccentric, written with ferocious zest and black humour.” —Penelope Lively
“Witty, civilized. . . . With ravishing descriptions of nature which manage to be simultaneously rapturous and precise.” —New York Review of Books
“A poetic and passionate description of adolescence. The words sing in their sentences. A world is evoked that has shades of the Brontë sisters and of Poe. . . . O Caledonia sets dreams and longing against Scottish righteousness and judgement, and the resolution is the blade of a skinning knife.” —The Times (London)
“An absolute sumptuous treat of a book.” —Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory
“A poetic and blackly comic account of an unhappy childhood in a remote setting, recreated so sensuously it makes you feel the wind on the heath. Exquisite.” —Independent on Sunday
“Beautifully written. . . . A remarkable debut.” —Times Literary Supplement
“Animals, Sir Walter Scott’s ‘alert and wild’ Caledonia, and literature are central to Elspeth Barker’s marvellously worked and wielded first novel. The love of words, the recognition of their power to give a pulse-beat to narrative, made me think of Djuna Barnes as I read, and re-read, for pleasure O Caledonia.” —Glasgow Herald
“A novel which, like its heroine, is unique. Poetry flows as rich as blood through the veins of this narrative.” —Scotsman
“Beautifully lyrical evocations of place and emotion.” —Kirkus
About the Author
Maggie O’Farrellis the author of the #1 Sunday Times (London)bestselling memoir I Am, I Am, I Am and eight novels, including The Distance Between Us, which won the Somerset Maugham Award; The Hand That First Held Mine, which won the Costa Novel Award; Instructions for a Heatwave, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award; This Must Be the Place, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award; and Hamnet, winner of the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, the 2020 NBCC Award for Fiction, the 2020 Waterstones’ Book of the Year, and was the Fiction Book of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards. She lives in Edinburgh.
Reviews:
5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant, beautifully dark and perfect for fall!
Perfect for fall/winter. A rather unknown female author with a very deep backstory. Spooky and elegantly written. Read the introduction! It’s a don’t miss. If you like Wuthering Heights or dark-ish reads, this is one to add to the collection. Lost ladies of literature approved.
4.0 out of 5 stars Growing up in a Scottish castle.
Beautifully written and full of unexpected events and insights, this account of being young in the sixties on a vast estate in Scotland has one flaw - and it's there on the first page. Why did she have to kill her protagonist? It would have been perfect without that violent sub-plot.
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and tragic
I began reading this and it is not at all what I expected, but so much better. I was dreading Janet's death but was compelled to keep going until the bitter end. This is a book I must own in the original hardcover. A literary gem. Requiescat in pace, Elspeth Barker.
3.0 out of 5 stars Nice creative writing, but meh story
Perhaps I’m just not the right audience for this book. It has some terrific descriptors throughout, but the story just became redundant. I purchased this book impulsively after reading a raving book review. I will donate this book to a free library somewhere. Not a keeper for my library. I would watch the movie if one were to be made out of sheer curiosity as to how they would depict each character and scene. So many archaic terms, I should have read with a dictionary beside me. Perhaps I would’ve gotten a bit more out of it.
5.0 out of 5 stars A short, but wonderful novella
Planning a trip to Scotland and had a hard time finding novels that weren’t schmaltzy romance novels. This was a great read, and no bodices were ripped off! Lol
4.0 out of 5 stars Gothically good
This is a proper literary piece and is along the likes of gothic tales of Famous Authors past but I also read it to be an account of historical fiction, dark satire, coming of age and family fiction. With the way it starts, a murder, you would think it should be part of a murder thriller, as well; but it is briefly mentioned because this is all about the the victim’s life growing up in mid-20th Century. Murder is hardly the topic.The language and writing is mesmerizing and it sucks you in to places of darkness and sorrow for a girl named Janet, who grows up only wanting to be herself but pressured by her parents and society to fit a narrative. It is something we thankfully see girls her age able to live nowadays, without being ostracized. While there still is bullying, it would have been done more so, back then.Janet is a complete introvert, loving her books, not caring about the fashions or acquiring female friendships as long as she has a good book and an animal nearby. She is raised in a wealthy family, the oldest of 5 siblings and she is quickly ignored unless it’s for criticism, once her mother gives birth to the sister born after her.Her parents want the children to fit in and behave to exceed their expectations, which they do except for Janet who is always seemingly doing something wrong, finding trouble or being seen as stubborn. But Janet just wants to be loved as she is. Seeing her grow up, it is a mixture of sadness with small moments of seeing her happy that make you feel a connection to her and made me want to hold her; mother her. And as you find out in the beginning that she was murdered, it’s what also comes after that ultimately shattered my heart.
5.0 out of 5 stars The book is delightfully written.
Almost every page treats the reader to a banquet of exquisite prose and quotable phrases. The character development of the Protagonist is brilliant. You want to hate and sympathize with her simultaneously. I did find certain physical descriptions, one scene in particular "gross". Perhaps it was the author's intent to shock the conscience. It worked. Overall I agree with Ali Smith's assessment that 'O Caledonia' is 'The best least-known novel of the twentieth century. It's a pity that Elspeth Barker only wrote one book.
4.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a classic gothic story
Gothic and a little macabre in tone, O Caledonia is a novel that is at times comical in spite of its strangeness. It’s a dark coming of age story originally published in 1991 that reads like classic literature. Barker’s prose is beautiful and descriptive. She writes in such vivid detail of the Scottish castle, Highland landscape, and Janet’s outlier personality.At the beginning of the novel (and in the synopsis) we learn of sixteeen your old Janet’s fate; she is murdered and found at the bottom of a staircase. However, the point of this novel is not to focus on her death. It reads rather like a summary of Janet’s tragically shortened life and the moments that defined her. Janet is an outcast to her family, friends, and society. She is highly intelligent and imaginative. I loved how she found companionship in books and her love for animals, especially her jackdaw. She is unapologetically herself, often prone to outbursts that reflect her rebuke of societal expectations. There is no “plot” in the traditional sense, which may not work for every reader, but that’s what makes this small and strange novel so unique.
Such a really good story
Such a really good story. Sad and old fashioned dark. So well written and told. Not my usual kind of read or characters but read it over a weekend.
O Caledonia
Perfekte
Great condition
Arrived quickly in great condition
Such a great novel. Scandalously under appreciated.
I love this book and have read it numerous times over the years. I was delighted to see an e-book edition for sale as now I have a copy with me (on my phone or iPad) at all times. Reading the digital edition is a particular joy as it is now so easy to look up the numerous literary and classical references that pepper the book. Heartily recommended.
A lost modern classic that deserves to be far better known
I am sorry to say that I had never heard of this novel until I read a short article about it in The Guardian newspaper by Maggie O’Farrell, who also wrote the introduction to the recently re-released edition that I read.As a novel it defies easy categorisation, combining elements of history, nature and almost Gothic horror as it tells the life of Janet, a challenging young woman who seemed to spend her life at odds with everyone whom she encountered. As a loner, despite four siblings, she found her greatest refuge in books, of which she was a precocious and prodigious reader. The book also offers an intriguing insight into life in Scotland in the early years after the Second World War. Janet’s family are fairly affluent by normal standards, living in a large house in the Highlands. While there may be sufficient financial resource, there is little in the way of society. The local population are far from welcoming of anyone, and quickly develop deep-rooted suspicions of everyone up at ’The Big House’ (or, more probably, ‘The Big Hoose’).There is a strong feeling of melancholy, not least because we learn in the first few sentences that Janet will be murdered while still a teenager. The book is not, however, the story of her life. It is more a series of hilarious snapshots as she grows up, She is also far from a wholly sympathetic character – she is selfish, often heartless and sometimes downright cruel. She is never boring, though, and the book is almost hypnotic, ensnaring the reader from the first page.I am confused as to why it is not better known, and how it had faded from the public consciousness. It definitely deserves to be better known.
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