Lark Rise to Candleford

 Lark Rise to Candleford is not a typical style of reading in our fast-paced age.  It was on a list of the most famous books of each year, one of many that pops up on the internet.  It sounded interesting, especially after one review stated that its style was similar to the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Apparently I bought an abridged version, but a note in the book made it clear that most of the book was intact. The book is pictured here with the title page because the outside is a quilted cover; the title is embossed into it but is not visible in a photo.

The story is semi-autobiographical of the author, Flora Thompson.  It was earlier written as two books that were combined into one, and published as a single volume in 1945.  The quiet story of a small English town in the 1880s is told in this book, through the seasons; and the book caught on because it told so well the stories of this agricultural people in a time of great social and economic change.  Laura Timmins is the main character of the book; however, the book is not really about her.  It's about the town, and the ways of the townspeople in every area of their lives.  Their lives were hard.  Homes were small and rude, and both men and women had their own forms of backbreaking work that kept them busy and without much time for personal pleasure.  But the story is not depressing - it is a realistic account of the good times and the bad ones for these people.

This book is recommended to anyone who likes slower paced reading that is more character- than plot-driven, and to anyone who enjoys glimpses of other historical time periods and other cultures.