Showing results by author "Miss Read" in All Categories

Fairacre is a village of cottages, a church and the school, and at the heart of the school, its head mistress, Miss Read. Through her discerning eye, we meet the villagers of Fairacre and see their trials and tribulations, from the irascible school cleaner Mrs. Pringle, to the young school children, with their scraped knees, hopeful faces, and inevitable mischief.

Wonderful comedy drama adapted from the beloved novels featuring an all-star cast Welcome to Thrush Green, a small and peaceful village in the Cotswolds, where everything and nothing happens. This wonderful, gentle comedy features and all-star cast including Adam Godley (Charlie and the...

It's the May Day holiday, and a fair has come to the village of Thrush Green. The residents of Thrush Green all have their own views about the fair. For young Paul, just recovered from an illness, it is a joy to be allowed out to play at the fair; for Ruth, who returned to the soothing tranquility of Thrush Green nursing a broken heart, the fair is a welcome distraction from her own problems. And for Dr Lovell, the fair brings an unexpected new patient.

Fairacre is a village of cottages, a church and the school - and, at the heart of the school, its head mistress Miss Read. Through her discerning eye, we meet the villagers of Fairacre and see their trials and tribulations, from the irascible school cleaner Mrs Pringle, to the young school children, with their scraped knees, hopeful faces and inevitable mischief.

The villagers of Thrush Green celebrate Christmas traditionally, in a way that has hardly changed over the generations. Children eagerly hang up their stockings, families go to church together and everyone enjoys the treats of the festive season. And when it snows as the carol singers make their way round the cottages on the green, it looks as if Christmas will be perfect this year. But not everything is as peaceful as it seems.

The arrival of a stranger in the village of Thrush Green stirs up ripples of speculation and interest. Not only does the village find itself paying tribute to this stranger's hero (a missionary born and bred in Thrush Green) but his presence has a dramatic affect on Miss Dimity Dean's romantic prospects.

When old Admiral Trigg and his sister Lucy died, their house, Tullivers, stood empty for many months. Then one bright April day, some discreet onlookers saw a good-looking woman pushing her way through the nettles to the front door.

A weight-losing recipe sends a portly Victorian housemaid literally sky-high. Mrs Next-Door, the queen of copycats, drives her patient neighbour mad with rage; the tragic tale of the ghost of Fairacre; the touch-and-go romance of Elsie Parker. In Over the Gate, Miss Read, the village schoolmistress, continues to remember odd incidents and excellent stories and to retell them with characteristic grace and compassion.

Miss Read heard about the sale of Tyler's Row from the always well-informed Mrs Pringle - and before long, Fairacre was alive with rumours. Why were the present owners selling? Was it true that a football pools winner was about to buy it? Had Tyler's Row been condemned - or was it to be restored?...

Charles Henstock, vicar of Thrush Green, is living in his new vicarage after the old one burned down. In its place are eight retirement homes, but there’s heated debate in the village about the new residents. How to choose who will live there? How will they get on together? And how will they accommodate all the pets? Meanwhile the old residents have their worries.

The village schoolmistress, Miss Read, greets retirement with excitement, and settles down to endless lazy days, but her idyll is interrupted by the daily cares of her friends and fellow villagers in this, the latest Miss Read novel.

‘As I have been given a large and magnificent diary for Christmas... I intend to fill it in as long as my ardour lasts.’ Luckily, Miss Read’s ardour lasts all year, encompassing every aspect of Fairacre life. Whether embroiled unwillingly in her friend Amy’s marital hiccups, discussing the changing world with Miss Clare or the modern problems of good local education and rural impoverishment with the schools inspector and the doctor, she remains balanced, humorous and wise.

As spring begins at Thrush Green, a series of local dramas takes hold of the community. Plans for the fete are hotting up, the illness of Mrs Peters at the restaurant makes the future unsure for the staff, and there are problems at Rectory Cottages.

Those who have come to love Miss Read's delightfully humorous novels of country life will be enraptured by these two autobiographical volumes, affectionate and unashamedly nostalgic accounts of her childhood. In A Fortunate Grandchild, Miss Read draws on her gentle and colourful memories of Grandma Read in Lewisham and Grandma Shafe in Walton-on-the-Naze, and their rambling, flock-wallpapered houses full of nooks and forbidden adult mysteries, which provided young Dora with a bedrock of security in the uncertain days of the Great War.

From the rural festivities in 'Village Christmas' to the poignant tale of a white robin, these two stories demonstrate the wry wit and light touch of Miss Read. Two heartwarming and wonderfully festive listens.

After the death of Emily Davis, school teacher and well-loved member of the local community, many of those who knew her cast their minds back to days past and to their memories of Emily. Dolly Clare mourns her loss deeply but remembers with joy and warmth the long friendship they shared. She is joined in her reminiscences by Jane Draper, who started her teaching career under Emily’s guidance, and by those further afield - from London to America.

Storm in the Village, Miss Read, Headmistress of Fairacre School, learns of a proposed new housing development that soon has the citizens of Fairacre up in arms. In The Fairacre Festival, after a storm damages the church roof, the villagers must raise money for repairs.

Anna Lacey had spent most of her 20 years on her Essex farm. Her doting parents, rural friends and country childhood had not prepared her for the shock of relocation to a raw new neighbourhood for her first year as a teacher. But Anna was gifted with the abilities to make friends and to learn as she taught.

Illegal battering of gingernuts and conkers in a murky corner of the playground; a procession of bearers of lost property interrupting the telling of the story of Joseph; justice being firmly done on three malefactors who stole Mr Henry's eggs... Here are 40 delightful stories about life as a village schoolteacher, set against the changing seasons of the countryside.

The end of the school year often brings unmitigated rapture for schoolteachers, and so it should for Miss Read, schoolmistress in the charming English village of Fairacre. But on the very first day of the long summer holiday, she falls and breaks her arm. Just when her summer seems ruined, her old friend Amy Garfield, comes to her aid with a diverting suggestion. They travel to Crete for two weeks, and the change of scene provides a welcome break for both of them.