Introduction by Richard Mabey and illustrated with wood-engravings by Julie Neild. At the end of the 19th century, Lark Rise – an isolated hamlet deep in the Oxfordshire countryside – was a rough and ready place, simple in its routines and narrow in outlook. Its people lived by the land, and the village year followed that of nature’s cycle, as it had done for generations. Introduction by Richard Mabey and illustrated with wood-engravings by Julie Neild. At the end of the 19th century, Lark Rise – an isolated hamlet deep in the Oxfordshire countryside – was a rough and ready place, simple in its routines and narrow in outlook. Its people lived by the land, and the village year followed that of nature’s cycle, as it had done for generations. They laboured from dawn till dusk, and would often find themselves on the brink of poverty, yet, for all the hardship, the inhabitants of Lark Rise led a happy life. A country wedding, dancing on the green ‘until dusk fell and the stars came out’, the gathering of cowslips for the May Day garland, the beauty of the ripened cornfields, the Harvest Home feast of hams, plum puddings and beer – such unselfconscious, joyous moments turned their lives into ones of real fulfilment and pleasure. Lark Rise was published in 1939 and was followed by Over to Candleford in 1941 and then Candleford Green in 1943; the popularity of the novels led to their publication in the form of an omnibus in 1945 under the title Lark Rise to Candleford and this particular edition has been published by arrangement with Penguin Books, London. -- t. p. verso.