NOTES FROM THE HENHOUSE On Marrying a Poet, Raising Children and Chickens, and Writing

The problem with the audio version of Elspeth Barker's indelible essays and stories is that you can't underline your favorite parts. That's probably just as well; your pen would go dry. Married to a poet, the author of one iconic novel, O CALEDONIA, hers was a fascinating, messy, wildly unconventional life. Barker writes about her household full of animals wild and domestic, about husbands, death, grief, love, childhood and children, friends, drink, and kitchen stoves. It's wise, wildly entertaining, and deadpan funny, a hard note to strike even for professional narrators. The author's daughter, Raffaella Barker, reads rather than performing the text, so the wit is somewhat flattened, but you can reanimate it yourself just behind the beat, and it's entirely worth it. B.G. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2024]