The Lark

 

The Lark / E. Nesbit
London: Dean Street Books, 2017, c1922.
267 p.

For a book that's now over 100 years old, this feels fresh and engaging in so many ways. I enjoyed reading this, although on reflection, it feels a little like two separate books combined. 

It's 1919 and Jane and Lucilla are just leaving school, to go live with their trustee in a country cottage -- only to find that he has mismanaged their funds and done a bunk. They have a small cottage to live in and a bit of money, but realize they will have to make money for themselves somehow. They begin by selling flowers from their garden to passersby on the road - this is a success and they need to find a bigger and better flower garden to supply themselves from. 

There is a big house down the road, long empty but with a large garden, and somehow they manage to finagle a room there to use as their flower shop. Jane and Lucilla do seem to fall into luck most times. Jane has more gumption and as their precarious business starts, she's the one who bracingly says: 

Life is a lark — all the parts of it, I mean, that are generally treated seriously: money, and worries about money, and not being sure what’s going to happen. Looked at rightly, all that’s an adventure, a lark. As long as you have enough to eat and to wear and a roof to sleep under, the whole thing’s a lark. Life is a lark for us, and we must treat it as such.

They need a steadier source of income, however, and end up fixing up the big house and taking in paying guests, some of whom disappear without paying. This is where it feels like another story is beginning. Their circumstances have changed a lot since the beginning of the story, there are now young men involved and they've somewhat magically been allowed the use of this big house for their needs by running into the owner's handsome nephew, John Rochester, and they can afford a couple of servants as well. Jane's young man was foreshadowed in the beginning, in an opening chapter 4 years prior to their leaving school. While Lucilla's was a bit sudden and silly in my opinion! 

In any case, this was a funny and charming tale. I'm always interested in stories where someone has to start a business to survive, especially when it's the unexpected combination of two young women on their own. There are practical issues for them to deal with as well as the lighter ones of romance, and they get up to some mischief as well. Entertaining characters, not what you'd expect, and a beautiful country setting. I enjoyed this one.