''Lark Rise'' is a 1939

semi-autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction. Bec ...

by the English author

Flora Thompson Flora Jane Thompson (née Timms; 5 December 1876 – 21 May 1947) was an English novelist and poet best known for her semi-autobiographical trilogy about the English countryside, ''Lark Rise to Candleford''. Early life and family Thompson ...

. It was illustrated by

Lynton Lamb Lynton Lamb Royal Designers for Industry, RDI, Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, FSRA, FSIA (15 April 1907 – 4 September 1977) was an English artist-designer, author, lithography, lithographer and illustrat ...

. In 1945, the book was republished as part of the trilogy ''

Lark Rise to Candleford ''Lark Rise to Candleford'' is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels by Flora Thompson about the countryside of north-east Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England, at the end of the 19th century. The stories were previously published se ...

'', comprising the novels ''Lark Rise'' (1939), ''

Over to Candleford ''Over to Candleford'' is a 1941 semi-autobiographical novel by the English author Flora Thompson. In 1945 the book was republished as part of the trilogy ''Lark Rise to Candleford'', comprising the novels ''Lark Rise'' (1939), ''Over to Candl ...

'' (1941), and ''

Candleford Green ''Candleford Green'' is a 1943 semi-autobiographical novel by the English author Flora Thompson. The village of the title is partly modelled on the Oxfordshire village of Fringford. In 1945 the book was republished as part of the trilogy ''Lar ...

'' (1943).

Plot

The novel follows the childhood of Laura Timmins in the small rural northern

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

hamlet of Lark Rise and the surrounding countryside. It is a part-lyrical, part-documentary portrait of the actual hamlet,

Juniper Hill Juniper Hill is a hamlet in the civil parish of Cottisford in Oxfordshire, England, south of Brackley in neighbouring Northamptonshire. Juniper Hill was named after the common juniper, ''Juniperus communis'', which originally grew in the are ...

, where the author was born.

Critical analysis

Laura represents the author

herself, born Flora Timms. According to

Richard Mabey Richard Thomas Mabey (born 20 February 1941) is a writer and broadcaster, chiefly on the relations between nature and culture. Education Mabey was educated at three independent schools, all in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. The first was at Roth ...

in his 2014 book ''Dreams of the Good Life'', the author "tells most of the story as a reminiscing adult, but presents Laura's view when she wants to lighten the tone of an example, or show it through the vivid, unmediated vision of a girl. Sometimes the viewpoint of adult and child are deliberately played against one another, with a kind of wry dramatic irony". The novel is neither a straight memoir nor an objective social history, but an imaginary reconstruction of what life felt like to a growing country child in the last years of the 19th century.

References

Novels by Flora Thompson 1939 British novels Novels set in Oxfordshire Novels set in Buckinghamshire Oxford University Press books {{1930s-novel-stub

Plot

Critical analysis

See also

References