Lark and Termite

By: Jayne Anne Phillips

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Paperback | 2 April 2026 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Format
Paperback

Dimensions(cm)
12.7 x 19.8 x 2.2

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A powerful tale of grief and survival - from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Night Watch

'This novel is cut like a diamond, with such sharp authenticity and bursts of light' ALICE MUNRO

'Extraordinary and luminous... the best novel I've read this year' JUNOT DIAZ

'Incandescent and utterly original' NEW YORK TIMES

'A glowing, powerful and immensely readable paean to the power of family' INDEPENDENT

In 1950s West Virginia, seventeen-year-old Lark and her younger half-brother Termite, who is unable to walk or talk, are being raised by their Aunt Nonie. Their mother Lola is absent, Termite's father is still caught up in the chaos of the Korean War, and Lark doesn't even know who her father is.

One night, a flood roars through town. Amid the debris and destruction, the truths of Lark's personal history begin to surface. And as the mysteries of the past come to light, the lives of Lark and Termite will be changed forever.

Industry Reviews

This novel is cut like a diamond, with such sharp authenticity and bursts of light - Alice Munro

Lark and Termite is extraordinary and it is luminous. This is not simply classic Jayne Anne Phillips. This is something far more extraordinary. It is an astounding feat of the imagination. It is the best novel I've read this year - Junot Diaz

Reverberates with echoes of Faulkner, Woolf, Kerouac, McCullers and Michael Herr's war reporting, and yet it fuses all these wildly disparate influences into something incandescent and utterly original... Phillips' characters are so indelible, so intimately drawn, that they threaten to move in and take up permanent residence in the reader's mind - New York Times

Consistently inventive, evocative and uncompromising. Haunting is a word much overused, but Lark and Termite is exactly that: a novel whose elegant lingering images are hard to shake from the memory. This is a glowing, powerful and immensely readable paean to the power of family - Independent

An extraordinary and brilliant piece of writing...a powerful and tender portrayal of a family - Sunday Times

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