Flora Thompson's beautifully observed portrait of village life at the end of the nineteenth century chronicles a society on the brink of change. Set in an Oxfordshire hamlet, LARK RISE tells of the people who make up the small, tightly-knit farming community. Among them, the gossip, the midwife, the pedlars, the borrowers, the gypsies, the clerics and the old folk who hate to see traditions fade. Lively, lyrical accounts of long-forgotten children's games and May Day celebrations, of customs and beliefs, are tinged with an underlying awareness that this rich culture was about to vanish forever.