The American author’s new work is the lyrical and strangely discordant story of two children growing up in West Virginia in the 1950s. Lark is a beautiful teenager, fiercely devoted to her young brother Termite, who is unable to walk or talk, but interprets the world in his own peaceful and poetic way. Termite is Lark’s only link to their mother Lola, a glamorous nightclub singer. Termite’s father is a Corporal caught up in No Gun Ri massacre of the Korean War. Jayne Anne talks to Sheila about what inspired the complicated and sad history of this make-shift family.
‘Lark and Termite’ by Jayne Anne Phillips is published by Jonathan Cape, ISBN: 9780224059
