The Lark on the Wing

The Haverard Family #2

by Elfrida Vipont

In spite of family opposition, Kit Haverard goes to London determined to pursue her singing career.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Music, Childrens, Young Adult

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Born in Manchester in 1902, Elfrida Vipont Brown was the daughter of devout Quakers, and was educated at Manchester High School, before studying history at Manchester University, and singing in Paris, London and Leipzig. She worked for a time as a professional singer (experience she would use in her books), married research technologist R.P. Foulds in 1929, and had four daughters. Vipont published her first book, Quakerism (1930), under her married name, E.V. Foulds, although she went on to use 'Elfrida Vipont' for her subsequent work. She was heavily involved in the field of Quaker education, serving as a Governor of Ackworth School - a Quaker institution founded in 1779, and to which many of her family were sent - as well as Headmistress of the Quaker Evacuation School at Yealand Manor, set up during World War II. Vipont wrote more than thirty books, including Weaver of Dreams, The Lark in the Morn, and The Elephant and the Bad Baby, finding success in all genres. She died in 1992.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it certainly does help to be familiar with the first novel of Elfrida Vipont's Haverard Family series, with The Lark in the Morn (1948), which I vaguely recall reading as a teenager and liking but not loving (and thus definitely need to reread), you can (at least in my humble opinion) still enjoy the sequel, Vipont's 1950 and Carnegie Medal winning The Lark on the Wing as a standalone girls' career-based story, as a typical 1950s novel specifically meant to present relevant and available job choices for girls, for women. And in The Lark on the Wing, this textually centres and focusses on seventeen year old Kit Haverard realising that she wants to train to be a professional singer, with Elfrida Vipont not only showing with and in her story, with her featured narrative the many challenges Kit has to face and endure (with for example Kit's father dying and her guardian and cousin Laura being rather cluelessly but not surprisingly against Kit becoming a career singer) but also very specifically pointing out the importance of working hard and continuously for one's goals and aspirations, so that Kit Haverard by biding her time, by at first uncomplainingly catering to her cousin's advice and mandates to enter a secretarial college but with Kit always still practicing and working on her singing (on her own time) does indeed win through by the end of The Lark on the Wing, changes Laura's mind and finally realises her cherished dream of singing professionally in a performance of a brand new piece of choral music in the Heryot Cathedral.

Now personally speaking, I could certainly do without some if not maybe even most of the romantic subplots encountered in The Lark on the Wing as they do tend to feel rather tacked on so to speak and as though Elfrida Vipont perhaps was feeling rather obligated to very deliberately, very much on purpose add and provide a touch of romance to her story of Kit Haverard's career path. But honestly, I also and equally do actually rather appreciate that questions of romance are always rather secondary and thus only subplots in The Lark on the Wing and that love and courtship never seem to overshadow and lose sight of the fact that Kit Haverard wants to become a professional singer and how everything she does, even when Kit is studying to be and later working as a secretary feels like the means to that particular end. And I guess there is also nothing inherently wrong and majorly problematic with the girls, with the female characters in many career novels being depicted as physically attractive and conventionally feminine even when they are pursuing jobs and training for future employment, although I do personally kind of find this more than a trifle annoying and catering to traditional visions and expectations of gender roles (and yes, even of course with this also being a sign of the time and a specific component of many career novels).

But to tell the truth, the very specific, rather boxed in and confined thematics and also the story contents encountered in The Lark on the Wing, that basically everything is about Kit Haverard hoping for and training to become a singer whilst also still remaining a lovely and desirable young woman, albeit this is academically and intellectually interesting and has also been a decent enough personal reading pleasure for me, and rating with three very nicely solid stars, I do tend to think that while there certainly are older Carnegie Medal novels that are still in print and still lastingly and universally popular, I really do wonder how today's reading teenaged girls would react to The Lark on the Wing and to Elfrida Vipont's in many ways still showing a rather traditional questions gender being important text.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kit Haverard struggles to make her dream of becoming a singer a reality in this sequel to The Lark in the Morn , once again finding herself hemmed in by the expectations of her managing cousin Laura, and by the ill health of her father. Determined to continue with her studies on her own, Kit nevertheless agrees to work as her father's secretary, but when fate intervenes and Professor Haverard dies, she must take a stand at last, or lose her opportunity. Moving to London, where she shares a flat with her long-time friends Pony Cray, studying to be a doctor, and Helen Edgington, attending the London School of Economics, Kit takes a day job in the Friends International Service office, and begins singing lessons with Papa Andreas. But the path to her goal of being a great singer is a long and difficult one, with distractions and tempting short-cuts, and Kit will have to wake up - to the realities of the people around her, their lives and loves, and to the deeper strands of tragedy and joy that bind all of humanity together - before she truly has a gift worth giving...

Like its predecessor, I found The Lark on the Wing an immensely engaging and frequently poignant read - I can easily see why it was awarded Britain's Carnegie Medal in 1950 - and I finished it in one setting. Kit is an appealing heroine here: goodhearted, a loving friend, sister and cousin, despite her occasional blindness to the feelings of those around her (especially the feelings of the opposite sex for her!), and a gifted artist with an instinctive sense of beauty, and a respect for the integrity of her work. I saw some of the developments - the resolution of Kit's romantic future, the conclusion of the relationship between Laurence Cray and Milly Kitson - coming from afar, but this did not rob these narrative elements of their power, and I found myself close to weeping on more than one occasion. The depiction of Quaker beliefs and customs was as fascinating here as it was in the first book, although I did find myself wondering why the same characters would use the old "thou" and "thee" at certain times, and the "you" and "your" at others. Perhaps the older forms were used with elders? Could this be the moment - the 1950s - when that pattern began to change? I'll have to ask some of my Quaker relatives.

All in all, this was a strong second entry in Elfrida Vipont's five-volume saga chronicling the doings of the Haverard family. I'm eager to begin the third, The Spring of the Year !

[CLM · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sequel to The Lark in the Morn, and with it one of my absolute favorites. It continues the story of Quaker Kit Haverard and her quest to become a successful singer, despite the setbacks created by her family.

Here is a link to my review:

https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/20...

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has always made me sad I don't have a good singing voice.

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first time reading anything by Elfrida Vipont--I heard of her from a friend and decided to try the one I could get from my library to see what I thought.

Overall this is well done, clean young-adult type fiction from 1950. At times it gets a bit bogged down by lengthy discussion of arias and songs Kit was learning, but otherwise it is a fresh, clean sort of read with some conflict. It is very much a Quaker young adult novel, which I hadn't realized since I knew nothing of Vipont before I read this. There is now a decent blurb for this book since I brought over the one from Amazon to replace the inane one sentence one that was there before this. Since I am learning to sing it was interesting to read about this since vocal pedagogy has undergone a great deal of change in the past 70 years, although of course there are different schools of thought as always. One of the reasons for the changes is that with contemporary imaging there is a great deal more knowledge of what is actually going on inside of you when you sing different styles of music.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captures beautifully that 'flying the nest' stage of youth - I do love this book, and I've read it many times. The musical detail is fascinating, the characters are engaging, and overall it's just quietly lovely.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old favorite. But this time I noticed a theme of goodness running through the story. Kit Haverard has left school and is determined to study music, in particular, singing. But her cousin Laura is against it, and Kit's father's health is not the best, so she must wait. Eventually she gets her chance. Like any young person, along her journey through life, Kit makes mistakes, but she learns from them, which only improves the depth of feeling she is able to impart with her singing. Highly recommended.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hoping to write a review soon! This is the kind of coming-of-age story I just love!

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

C-. fiction, singing career, England, dated, from stash, discard

[Nicole Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little series was a gem and I so enjoyed both books!

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kit Haverard dreams of becoming a singer, but faces opposition from family members and her own lack of funds. Still, she goes to London to pursue her dreams. Sharing a flat with her two best friends, and surrounded by siblings, cousins, suitors and various well-wishers, she devotes herself to her music studies. In the end she performs in her first major concert, to great acclaim, and realizes she is in love with her singing partner.

The second in a series about the Haverard family, this book hits the ground running, as Kit faces family opposition to her sudden revelation that she wants to sing. Perhaps if I read the first novel (The Lark in the Morn) I would have been more invested in Kit, but as it was I found I didn’t care all that much about her travails. Frankly, every time she stumbled or came up against some obstacle, some supportive relative, friend or stranger would materialize from the wings to lend her support. Her music teacher offers to teach her for free, her cousins are all watching out for her, her maiden aunts donate evening gowns and accessories, every time she sings complete strangers offer her jobs, why even her co-workers seem to have her in the centre of her focus, lowly stenographer that she is. It’s certainly a dated portrayal of a strong, independent woman: Kit is determined and hard working, but her progress is buoyed along by protective males and rich patrons.

The romance angle is so old-fashioned as to be nearly nonexistent. Several attentive boys hang about, but Kit remains oblivious to the reason. The question of love suddenly rears its head at the end of the book and she (somehow) seems to make the right choice.

All in all, quite a dated tale of young students in 1940s London. The author paints a detailed picture of two worlds she had personal knowledge of: that of the dreamy young music student, and the busy life of the committee-bound Quaker. Long passages in which Kit is transported by the joys of music may only appeal to those with similar interests. Ditto the religious sentiment, although the Quakers are certainly more lively than I would have expected. Heartfelt and earnest, but perhaps too much so for today’s readers.

(see more Carnegie medal winner reviews at http://rarestkindofbest.com/lists-3/c... )

[Rachel L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read in April 2009: Lovely. Just as good as or better than the first book.

Second read in March/April 2010: Still great...

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lark on the Wing. Elfrida Vipont. 1950 @CILIPCKG English girl has no inheritance! Interesting bits for musician. Otherwise uninspiring.

Reviewed @reallyReads