Notes from the Henhouse was a great compilation of Barker's writing. I appreciated her story and this gave me context to my prior reading of O Caledonia.

It's not surprising that this collection of short stories and essays circles around all kinds of death -- small and large, mundane and devastating. Elspeth Barker only wrote one novel, the cult favorite O, Caledonia, which opens with the protagonist, a character based on Barker herself, dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of the staircase.

Fans of Barker's novel will be glad to learn in these essays how much of Janet's life was pulled directly from the author's childhood. She and her older brother did as preschoolers attempt to smother their baby sister in her pram. She did have a trained jackdaw, and her brother did train it to say "Never mind" rather than the "Nevermore" she was working on.

The entanglement with animals and death followed Barker into adulthood, when she married the poet George Barker. They had five children, a house full of pets and farm animals, and a love disturbed by George's Saturday night drunken rages. By her own lights, Elspeth walked a line between devoted (or enabling) wife of an artist and feminist woman who had freely chosen this life and would choose it again.

She holds no illusions about George, and in one essay details both his faults as a poet devoted to his muse and his assests as a father devoted to his children. This last is an important plus, since he had almost a dozen kids across three marriages. This essay uses one of her less successful structures, a litany of observations where every paragraph might as well begin "And then there was the time..." She mentions the publication of a biography of George as the inspiration for this essay, but her far more interesting response was to boldly review the biography of her own deceased husband for the Independent on Sunday, where she was a regular reviewer.

She also writes of the many animals in her life, from the jackdaw and pony of her childhood in a Scottish castle to the dogs, pigs, and chickens (who live in the henhouse of the title) of her adult life. When Barker tries her hand at descriptive nature writing, it can feel too floaty to be engaging. But when she's interacting with nature through animals, whether domesticated, tamed or wild, she and the reader find a foothold in the landscapes of Scottland and Norfolk, where she lived with George.

All of the essays benefit from Barker's decades as a linguist, with literary and classical references sprinkled throughout. As a reader who loves language, I appreciated her etymologies and philological ruminations. As with O, Caledonia, all of this heavy lifting is lightened with Barker's sharp sense of humor.

this had beautiful writing with some interesting stylistic choices, but not a lot for me to latch onto content-wise. lots of scottish dialect and imagery from the countryside which was a different setting from what i normally read. lots of talk about animals and nature, which i can appreciate but isn’t my favorite subject matter. i enjoyed the more personal/emotional essays in the widowhood section - particularly the longest goodbye & broken hearted - as well as the short stories included at the end. but i don’t think this will have much staying power with me. maybe that’s on me, i haven’t read barker’s novel o caledonia, so i didn’t have much of a connection to these pieces. i think i just prefer a different style of essay than what these are.

Notes from the Henhouse by Elspeth Barker is an exquisite and entertaining collection of autobiographical essays by Elspeth Barker.
Delightful and funny, Notes from the Henhouse is an intriguing glimpse into the life of Elspeth Barker.
I enjoyed these rich details and found it to be so intriguing and very interesting.

Thank You NetGalley and Scribner for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Thank you Scribner for a welcome change of pace read for me, I know little of Elspeth Barker's career but this set of essays reveals to me some timeless voice, a conversation in progress with if not a reader per se, then someone (perhaps herself, a friend, a loved one) and a lot if witty humor and observations. I really enjoyed the style of writing, it felt at times like reading my internal observations about life, the little moments that capture attention or somehow send you down a thought/self reflection rabbit hole.
This was a most appreciated review opportunity for a book I might not have read! Thank you

"𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥’𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴. “𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦.”

Barker is the kind of woman who tells you things. Will spill gossip about Sally the next door over, but will make it clever, and then tell you to look out the window to her garden, claim what’s in bloom, and then sips at her tea that has been sitting out all morning. She’ll tell you about the kids, about all the work she’ll get to, but there’s a sense of cool nerves in her speech that you think that she’s done all the work already, she just enjoys being in the present tense, will throw back her head in laughter about the past, but when she thinks about her husband, awashed in history, you notice the dip in the light and the afternoon returns to its morning blue and you wonder if time has stopped, if it’s moving backwards with Barker’s stories, and if she’s right about Sally. If the kids are alright. If Barker is alright. And so you drink the cold tea too because there’s nothing left to say or do. What’s left is Barker by the window, looking out, weaving scenes into words, scribbles on napkins, and she says something that sounds pretty, that makes sense, but overall pretty because you’ve forgotten how beautiful the world can get after so much chatter and changes to the light.

Beautiful musings that are less essays and more like curated journal entries into a woman so full of life, so full of observations on marriage, children, grief, and womanhood, all interwoven in nature.

An eclectic collection of essays by Barker who strives to live a good life.
I found the background of the author as described in the prologue to be more interesting than the actual essays themselves.
There didn’t seem to be a resonating theme with the essays, just jumbled together, resembling a flock of chickens going in whichever direction.
I think Barker was content with her life and that does emanate from her essays.

An eclectic collection of short stories and anecdotes from Barker's life, This is sharp-often pointedly biting- and animals do not do well, Barker lived an unusual life but one that was clearly rich in experience if not in funds, The six stories are the sort that are just the right length but also leave you wishing for more, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I inexplicably missed O Caledonia but I'm heading off now in search of a copy.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book of essays was wonderful. I enjoyed it a lot!

Notes from the Henhouse
On Marrying a Poet, Raising Children and Chickens, and Writing
by Elspeth Barker
Pub Date 19 Mar 2024
Scribner
Biographies & Memoirs| Essays & Collections


Scribner and Netgalley sent me Notes from the Henhouse for review:


A sharp and witty collection of autobiographical essays by the late Elspeth Barker, acclaimed journalist and author of O Caledonia:



Elspeth Barker's sharp and witty essays regularly appeared in the national press after she published her acclaimed, darkly funny novel O Caledonia. The most personal of these pieces is collected in Notes from the Henhouse.


This collection of essays beautifully captures Barker's upbringing and her profound sense of loss following the death of George Barker. She writes about George's former lover Elizabeth Smart and other bohemian and counterculture figures from the 1950s and 1960s. A piece like "Thoughts in a Garden," equal parts funny and moving, portrays the vagaries of raising a big family and assorted pets in a damp and drafty farmhouse.


In Notes from the Henhouse, you get a sneak peek at the incredible life of a writer.


I give Notes From the Henhouse four out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

This is an amazing book. I hated to see it end, especially knowing that the writer has passed and there will be no new work from her. (I'm eager to read her backlist!)

"Notes from the Henhouse" combines personal narrative, vibrant descriptions of the natural world and humor to convey hard truths and unique wonders. It is both universally relatable and a glimpse into a world that I wish I could spend more time in. Every chapter was engaging and fresh, but "Portia," about the writers' pig, was perfection.

Thanks, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this advance look in exchange for my honest review.