O Caledonia
Book description
In the tradition of Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a darkly humorous modern classic of Scottish literature about a doomed adolescent growing up in the mid-19th century—featuring a new introduction by Maggie O’Farrell, award-winning author of Hamnet.
Janet lies murdered beneath the castle stairs, attired in…
- Coming soon!
Why read it?
1 author picked O Caledonia as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
O Caledonia is a dark, unhappy, witty Scottish novel that delights and teases the reader. Populated by a family of unlovable malcontents whose motto is “Dying but Unconquered,” it is a murder mystery, although the murder—and its rebellious and disrespectful 16-year-old victim, Janet—doesn’t gain much attention in the grand scheme of things. Instead, the novel focuses on the people around poor dead Janet, who are self-absorbed and short-sighted. They regularly inflict casual cruelties on each other and themselves, often with results that are both sad and humorous. By the end of the novel, I was pretty sure I was related…