The Song Of The Skylark
by Liz Shakespeare
Focussed on the lives of two pauper apprentices, brother and sister, Thomas and Mary Mitchell, the story is told through children’s eyes. On reading it, facts that we may have long known about, from a family history research perspective, take on an entirely new poignancy. The understanding of how very much families were at the mercy of the authorities; split up, with children sent to live and work away from home for years at a time, often until the age of 21. Imagine hearing that was your future when you were aged just nine years old, say. Although Thomas and Mary’s existence is intolerably brutal, the story is far more nuanced. Mary’s thirst for learning, her yearning to read, and how precious the sheet of paper she was given in Sunday School printed with the alphabet – the first possession she had ever owned; these are aspects that are very humbling to read as it reminds us how fortunate we are to be alive today. Mary’s poor start in life, her lack of education, and the consequent limits on her life and future, would have been circumstances that so many of our ancestors would recognise all too well. Liz Shakespears’s attention to detail in The Song of the Skylark is phenomenal: from her understanding of the religious values of the time; her knowledge of the clothing, bedding and furniture; and her insights to just how long, cold and tiring the day must have seemed to a young child, sent out to the field to scare the birds from sun up to sun down. Throughout the book, I kept asking myself ‘Just how does she know these things’, and I suspect that it is a combination of the art of a good novelist and a lot of dedicated research.
• Published by Letterbox Books in paperback, RRP £9.99. ISBN: 9780951687963 www.lizshakespeare.co.uk/the-song-of-the-skylark/HT