Elspeth Barker Explained

Elspeth Barker (16 November 1940 – 21 April 2022) was a Scottish novelist and journalist.

Born as Elspeth Langlands, she was raised in Drumtochty Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where her parents ran a prep school for boys.^[1] From 1958, she read Literae Humaniores (Classics) at Somerville College, Oxford.^[2] Barker's only novel, O Caledonia, was published in 1991. It won four awards and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize.^[3] Her edited anthology Loss, about bereavement, was published in 1997, and her reviews and essays in a 2012 collection, Dog Days.

Her first husband was the poet George Barker by whom she had five children, including the novelist Raffaella Barker.^[4] In 2007, she married the writer Bill Troop.^[5] Barker died at her home in Aylsham on 21 April 2022, aged 81, from health issues following a stroke.^{[6] [7]}

Notes and References

1. News: Elspeth Barker obituary. The Times. London. 27 April 2022. 27 April 2022. subscription.
2. Web site: Elspeth Barker: Prize-winning author. Somerville, University of Oxford. 9 June 2021 . 27 April 2022.
3. https://amheath.com/books/o-caledonia-2/ O Caledonia, listing at A. M. Heath
4. Fraser, Robert (2001). The Chameleon Poet, A Life of George Barker. London: Jonathan Cape. .
5. Evening Standard, 21 December 2007, p. 15.
6. News: Family Notices . 27 April 2022 . Eastern Daily Press . 26 April 2022 . en-UK.
7. News: Elspeth Barker, Author of a Single Beloved Novel, Dies at 81. The New York Times. 19 May 2022. 19 May 2022. Risen. Clay. limited.