Flora Jane Thompson was an English novelist and poet best known for her semi-autobiographical trilogy about the English countryside, Lark Rise to Candleford.
10 Facts About Flora Thompson
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In 1891, at the age of 14, Flora Thompson moved to take up a position as counter clerk at the post office in Fringford, a village about 4 miles northeast of Bicester, under the tutelage of the postmistress, Mrs Kezia Whitton.
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Flora Thompson later served at various other post offices, including offices at Grayshott, Yateley, and Winton in Bournemouth.
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Flora Thompson later wrote extensively, publishing short stories and magazine and newspaper articles.
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Flora Thompson was a keen self-taught naturalist; many of her nature articles were anthologised in 1986.
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In 1938 Flora Thompson sent some essays on her country childhood to Oxford University Press.
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Flora Thompson's essays have been said to reveal an impressive knowledge of English literature and a gift for writing intelligent but accessible prose for a general audience.
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Flora Thompson approached novel writing as an artistic process and her descriptions of nature are notably poetic.
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Flora Thompson's trilogy has been widely used as a primary source for the social history of the period, although some historians have expressed reservations as to its validity for that purpose.
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Flora Thompson died in 1947 of a heart attack in Brixham, and is buried at Longcross Cemetery, Dartmouth, Devon.