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Lark Rise to Candleford - book review

© Lynda Langford

As someone who has more than a passing interest in the way of life of ordinary people, especially the rural life of days long past, I decided to talk about a book called "Lark Rise to Candleford" which was written by Flora Thompson and was first published in 1945. I first came across the book as a result of my interest in family history, I had noticed that people mentioned it all the time, and the general feeling seemed to be that it was an excellent book to read to gain an insight into a way of life that has been lost forever. My sister gave me a copy of the book, and I have to agree it is a slice of history preserved forever on paper, the book is still being published today, a sign of it's importance as a study of part of the social history of England.

Flora Thompson was born in 1876, at Juniper Hill in Oxfordshire, she lived in this small hamlet until she took up work in a nearby town assisting at the Post Office at the age of fourteen. The book is actually a trilogy of three volumes, namely, Lark Rise; Over to Candleford and Candleford Green, these three volumes were originally published separately.

The scene is set in the opening chapter, the time the late 1800's, in a small hamlet that is called Lark Rise because of the number of Skylarks which occupy it's surrounding fields. Lark Rise is actually Juniper Hill, the hamlet Flora grew up in, and although the book is a biographical work the names of people and places were changed, presumably to protect identities. Some of the hamlets occupants could still remember when the area was common land, before the passing of the Enclosure Acts, a time when the rural poor still had some land to cultivate and perhaps some stock to rear. It is against this background that the narrative continues, with the central character being Laura who is of course Flora herself.

Flora Thompson had a real love of the English countryside; it shines through in her descriptions of the landscape throughout the changing seasons. Flora and fauna around the hamlet are lovingly illustrated in words, which create an evocative picture in the readers mind.

Details about the inhabitants of Lark Rise, their houses, social status and personalities are described with incredible depth; even the smallest detail is noted. The way of life as it was lived at that time in the hamlet leaves the reader in no doubt that this is a book written from personal experience. One part of the book that stands out in my mind is the passage, which describes the "baby box". This box was a valuable item for new mothers in the hamlet, made of wood, it contained all the things necessary for a newborn child's layette such as nightgowns, nappies, shirts and swathes, it was lent to every new mother in the hamlet by the clergyman's daughter. The box would be returned after a month, ready to be prepared for it's next recipient, but often it was kept for a longer period, if there were no new mothers in need of it elsewhere.

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