Flora Thompson (1876–1947)
Author of Lark Rise to Candleford
About the Author
Series
Works by Flora Thompson
Associated Works
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Thompson, Flora
- Legal name
- Thompson, Flora Jane
- Other names
- Timms, Flora (birth)
- Birthdate
- 1876-12-05
- Date of death
- 1947-05-21
- Burial location
- Longcross Cemetery, Dartmouth, Devon, England
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Juniper Hill, Oxfordshire, England
- Place of death
- Brixham, Devon, England
- Places of residence
- Oxfordshire, England, UK
Devon, England, UK
Juniper Hill, Oxfordshire, UK - Education
- Cottisford parish school
- Occupations
- novelist
poet
short-story writer
postal worker - Short biography
- Flora Thompson, née Timms, was the eldest of six children of a stonemason and a nursemaid. She was educated at the parish school in Cottisford and left school at age 14 to work in various post offices across southern England. In 1903, she married John William Thompson, a post office clerk and telegraphist who had served in the Royal Navy, and the couple had a daughter and two sons. Flora Thompson won an essay competition in The Ladies Companion in 1911 for an essay about Jane Austen. She later began publishing extensively, writing short stories, magazine and newspaper articles. She was a dedicated self-taught naturalist and many of her nature articles were published in anthologies. Flora Thompson is best known for her semi-autobiographical trilogy of books about the rural English countryside, Lark Rise to Candleford.
Members
Reviews
What an absolutely charming read. It's not a memoir and not a novel but a series of recollections and stories of both the hamlet of Lark Rise and the small towns of Candleford and Candleford Green with some small through lines of the life of Laura Timmins but that doesn't really do it justice. It's about a time and place that was already changing rapidly and was completely gone by the time Thompson wrote her stories but she creates it so vividly. I read it after a re-watch of the TV series and it was fun to see the sentences or phrases that were teased into narratives but it is probably best to think of them as completely different things. I dipped into this over a few months and I always enjoyed it.… (more)
Flora Thompson is best remembered for three (or four) memoirs she wrote, Lark Rise (1939), Over to Candleford (1941), Candleford Green (1943) and pothumously published Still glides the stream (1948. The first three volumes were also printed in one volume entitled Lark rise to Candleford.
I thought this was a novel, but it turned out to be more like a work of social history of late-Victorian village life. Clearly, Flora Thompson doesn't have the skill of her contemporaries Thomas Hardy or Hugh Walpole. Lark Rise is well-written but rather boring.There isn't such an awful lot to write about village life, so at 247 pages the book seems a bit too long, with some information repeated. After about 150 pages it became a bit of a drag.… (more)
I thought this was a novel, but it turned out to be more like a work of social history of late-Victorian village life. Clearly, Flora Thompson doesn't have the skill of her contemporaries Thomas Hardy or Hugh Walpole. Lark Rise is well-written but rather boring.There isn't such an awful lot to write about village life, so at 247 pages the book seems a bit too long, with some information repeated. After about 150 pages it became a bit of a drag.… (more)
3.5. Leisurely jaunt through the past. I wasn't really expecting the show so I wasn't disappointed.
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Statistics
- Works
- 16
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 2,448
- Popularity
- #10,474
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 47
- ISBNs
- 113
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 13
Wonderful acting, impeccable attention to detail in the construction of late 19th century sets, as well as the costumes and local feasts, and a thought-provoking, often poignant (and sometimes light-hearted) drama loosely based on a book of the same name.
I would give this six stars if I could! Very highly recommended if you like period drama that's character-based.
Longer review here: https://suesdvdreviews.blogspot.com/2023/01/lark-rise-to-candleford.html… (more)