Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Moriens sed Invictus ~ Dying but Unconquered

O Caledonia: A Novel by Elspeth Barker

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O Caledonia was originally published in 1991 and was reissued last year with a new introduction by Maggie O’Farrell. I’d never heard of this book before but saw it at the bookstore. The cover looked like it would be suitably dark for a Halloween-ish read, and it is. This book might be for you if you enjoyed I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith) or We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Shirley Jackson) as, like those two novels, it features a teenaged protagonist living in […]

Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me; the present only toucheth thee

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

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On a windy night, at the foot of a set of stairs in a run-down mansion buried deep in the Scottish highlands, the body of a young woman is found. Her name is Janet; she’s dressed in her mother’s black lace ballgown. Outside, in the stormy skies, a jackdaw flies in search of her. He seems to be the only one who misses her.  I had never heard of this 1991 novel, but I’m so glad I did. It’s a small gem; that rare combination […]



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