''Lark Rise'' is a 1939 semi-autobiographical novel 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. 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 s ...

'', 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 Can ...

'' (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 ''L ...

'' (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, primaril ...

hamlet of Lark Rise and the surrounding countryside. It is a part-lyrical, part-documentary portrait of the actual hamlet, Juniper Hill, where the author was born.

Critical analysis

Laura represents the author

herself, born Flora Timms. According to Richard Mabey 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