Sep 4, 2025
Richard and Claire are joined by novelist Sarah Hall to consider Flora Thompson’s memoir Lark Rise to Candleford.
For this episode, Richard and Claire are joined by novelist Sarah Hall to consider Flora Thompson’s memoir Lark Rise to Candleford.
These days, Lark Rise to Candleford is perhaps the best-known English rural memoir in print. Thanks in no small part to the BBC’s 2000s TV adaptation, and historic class-washing in its jackets and illustrations, it is commonly thought of as a rather cosily nostalgic book. In reality, however, it is strongly class-conscious and political. Wh…
Sep 4, 2025
Richard and Claire are joined by novelist Sarah Hall to consider Flora Thompson’s memoir Lark Rise to Candleford.
For this episode, Richard and Claire are joined by novelist Sarah Hall to consider Flora Thompson’s memoir Lark Rise to Candleford.
These days, Lark Rise to Candleford is perhaps the best-known English rural memoir in print. Thanks in no small part to the BBC’s 2000s TV adaptation, and historic class-washing in its jackets and illustrations, it is commonly thought of as a rather cosily nostalgic book. In reality, however, it is strongly class-conscious and political. Why is Thompson’s trilogy not celebrated as a classic of working-class literature?
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Books and Authors Mentioned
Elizabeth Gaskell – Cranford Sarah Hall – Burntcoat, Haweswater, Helm, How to Paint a Dead Man, Madam Zero, Sudden Traveller, The Carhullan Army, The Electric Michelangelo, The Wolf Border Barbara Hammond & JL Hammond – The Village Labourer DH Lawrence – Lady Chatterley’s Lover Charles Dickens – The Old Curiosity Shop Flora Thompson – Bog-Myrtle and Peat, Lark Rise to Candleford
Other Links:
The Catholic Fireside Laura’s reading in Lark Rise to Candleford The Juniper Hill enclosures
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