The Lark
  • Published: 15 February 2018
  • ISBN: 9780241983485
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.99

The Lark

Introduction by Booker Prize-Winning Author Penelope Lively

Formats & editions
EBook
15 Feb 2018
Paperback
15 Feb 2018
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A wonderfully funny and charming novel about two young girls' quest for independence, with an introduction by Penelope Lively

"When did two girls of our age have such a chance as we've got - to have a lark entirely on our own? No chaperone, no rules, no..."
"No present income or future prospects," said Lucilla.
It's 1919 and Jane and her cousin Lucilla leave school to find that their guardian has gambled away their money, leaving them with only a small cottage in the English countryside. In an attempt to earn their living, the orphaned cousins embark on a series of misadventures - cutting flowers from their front garden and selling them to passers-by, inviting paying guests who disappear without paying - all the while endeavouring to stave off the attentions of male admirers, in a bid to secure their independence.
  • Published: 15 February 2018
  • ISBN: 9780241983485
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

Other books in the series
Lifting the Veil
Ismat Chughtai
The Lark
E. Nesbit
Meatless Days
Sara Suleri

About the author

E. Nesbit

Edith Nesbit was born in 1858. Her father died when she was only three and so her family moved all over England. Poverty was something she had known first hand, both as a child and as a young married woman with small children. Like the Railway Childrens' Mother, she was forced to try and sell her stories and poems to editors. Her first children's book, The Treasure Seekers, was published in 1899. She also wrote Five Children and It but her most famous story is The Railway Children which was first published in 1905 and it hasn't been out of print since. Edith Nesbit was a lady ahead of her time - she cut her hair short, which was considered a very bold move in Victorian times, and she was a founding member of a group that worked towards improvements in politics and society called The Fabian Society. She died in 1924.

portrait photo of E. Nesbit

Also by E. Nesbit

Penguin Readers Level 1: The Railway Children (ELT Graded Reader)
The Enchanted Castle
Horror Stories
Five Children and It
The Phoenix And The Carpet
The Phoenix and the Carpet
Five Children And It
See all

Praise for The Lark

She, of all the writers I have ever read, has given me over the years the most complete satisfaction

Noel Coward

She had an economy of phrase, and an unparalleled talent for evoking hot summer days in the English countryside

Noel Streatfield

A charming and brilliantly entertaining novel... shot through with the light-hearted Nesbit touch

Penelope Lively, from the introduction

To come upon any Nesbit today, hitherto unread, ...is like receiving a letter from a friend whom you have believed dead

New York Times

A wry, charming delight of a book

The Pool