Allanayr

This book was the Baker's follow up to the successful 'Miss Hargreaves' but those who had enjoyed the wistful fanstasy probably found this work harder to appreciate. The book is the story of the last days of an unsuccessful composer, Harrison Bate, and the effect he has on the Becker family he lives with in Middleport (Newport) in Wales. While this story is fictitous it probably owes something to the lives of Delius and perhaps Sibelius. 'Allanayr' is the name of a last great work the composer is trying to write. Being partly disabled, the physical editing and writing of the score is a barrier to its creation so he enilists the help of young musician and aspirant composer, Matthew Faren, who is an alter ego of Baker himself. The story deals with the relationships between Bate, Farren and the members of the Becker family - overlaid with the artistic sensitivities, jealousies and paranoia of an eccentric man who faces the end of his life and the realisation that his talent may never be recognised by the world outside.