What is Flora Thompson?
'''Flora Jane Thompson''' (5 December 1876 – 21 May 1947) was an [[England|English]] [[novelist]] and [[poet]] that was famous for her [[autobiography|semi-autobiographical]] [[trilogy]] about the English countryside, ''[[Lark Rise to Candleford]]''. She was born in ''Juniper Hill'', a hamlet in north-east [[Oxfordshire]]. She was the eldest of six children of the [[Stonemasonry|stonemason]] Albert and the [[nurse]]maid Emma Timms. In her books her favourite brother, Edwin, is mentioned as important companion during her childhood. He was killed near Ypres in 1916. Flora was educated in the village ''Cottisford'' and worked in various post offices in southern England. The first of these was ''Fringford'', a village about four miles north-east of [[Bicester]]. Flora started work here in 1891, as assistant to the postmistress, Mrs. Kezia Whitton.<ref>''Flora Thompson, the story of the 'Lark Rise' writer'', by Gillian Lindsay, 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-873855-53-9}}</ref><ref>1881 census, parish of Fringford</ref> Among other post offices where Flora worked was that at ''Grayshott'', in [[Hampshire]], and she later moved to [[Bournemouth]]. In 1903, she married John William Thompson, with whom she had two sons and a daughter. Flora benefited from good access to books when the public library opened in Winton, in 1907. Not long after, in 1911, she won an essay competition in ''The Ladies Companion'' for a 300-word essay on [[Jane Austen]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wintonforum.co.uk/flora.html |title=Winton Community Forum - Flora Thompson's years in Winton<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2008-05-17 |archive-date=2007-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012031129/http://www.wintonforum.co.uk/flora.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> She later wrote extensively, publishing [[short story|short stories]] and magazine and newspaper articles. She was a keen self-taught [[natural history|naturalist]] and many of her nature articles were [[Anthology|anthologised]] in 1986. Her most famous works are the ''