The combination of the current issue of the quarterly – Issue 74 – and Flora Thompson’s Over to Candleford & Candleford Green makes an ideal introduction to Slightly Foxed.
Slightly Foxed Issue 74
In this issue: Sue Gee goes boating with Mole and Ratty • Jim Ring doesn’t mean to go to sea • Pauline Melville sets sail for Guyana • Grant McIntyre gathers herbs at Copsford • Rachel Cooke witnesses the war between the Tates • Justin Marozzi heads for the Hindu Kush • Alexandra Harris picks up a Pevsner • Andrew Ryan recalls boxing days • Olivia Potts masters the art of French cooking, and much more besides . . .
SF Edition, Over to Candleford & Candleford Green (No. 59)
In Over to Candleford life begins to open out for Flora Thompson when she leaves Lark Rise to visit her father’s relations in the local market town where she makes particular friends with her uncle Tom, a liberal thinker and respected craftsman, who shares with her his love of books and his talent for attracting interesting and often eccentric people.
Back at home and now in her teens, Laura is restless and undecided about her future, until news comes of a vacancy for an assistant at the Post Office in a nearby village. Candleford Green is an enchanting picture of Flora’s new life in this colourful community and of Dorcas Lane, her redoubtable – and unforgettable – employer.
‘You are going to be loved by people you’ve never seen and never will see,’ a gypsy tells Flora. It was a prophecy that turned out to be true. Her beautiful memoir has never gone out of fashion and is as consoling today as it was in the dark times in which it was written.
