Lark Rise to Candleford

The inspiration for a popular television series that aired on PBS in 2009, Lark Rise to Candleford is Flora Thompson's classic evocation of a vanished world of agricultural customs and rural culture. The trilogy of Lark Rise, Over to Candleford, and Candleford Green tells the story of Thompson's childhood and youth during the 1880s in Lark Rise--in reality Juniper Hill, the hamlet in Oxfordshire where she was born. Through the eyes of Laura, the author's fictional counterpart, Thompson describes the cottages, characters, and way of life of the agricultural laborers and their families with whom she grew up--seasonal celebrations, schooling, church-going, entertainment, and story-telling are described in fond and vivid detail. This new edition of the trilogy, the only hardback edition in print, boasts an attractive format complete with ribbon marker and the original wood-engravings by Julie Neild. The edition includes a new introduction by Phillip Mallett, which looks at the background to the books and their enduring popularity, plus a useful select bibliography and a chronology of Flora Thompson's life and publications.

Phillip Mallett is Lecturer in English at the University of St Andrews.