O CaledoniaO Caledonia

"A darkly humorous modern classic about a doomed adolescent girl, featuring a new introduction by Maggie O'Farrell, award-winning author of Hamnet. Janet lies murdered beneath the castle stairs, attired in her mother's black lace wedding dress, lamented only by her pet jackdaw ... So begins O Caledonia, with the body of sixteen-year-old Janet sprawled beneath the stained-glass window of her Scottish Highlands home. The only mourner is her pet bird, and there is no shortage of suspects in the murder of the unlovely and unloved Janet. Despite this opening scene, O Caledonia is not a whodunit but an account of our ill-fated young heroine's life, from birth to early death, about sibling bonds and betrayals, isolation and loneliness, the miseries of adolescence, and the saving grace of books. Author Elspeth Barker masterfully evokes the harsh climate of Scotland in this gothic tale that has been compared to the works of the Brontes, Edgar Allan Poe, and Edward Gorey. People, birds, and beasts move through the background in a tale that is as rich and atmospheric as it is witty and mordant. The family's motto-Moriens sed Invictus ("Dying but Unconquered")-is a well-suited epitaph for wild and courageous Janet, whose fierce determination to remain steadfastly herself makes her one of the most unforgettable protagonists in contemporary literature"--