Miss Read

The villagers of Thrush Green celebrate Christmas traditionally, in a way that has hardly changed over the generations. But not everything is as peaceful as it seems....

Dorothy Watson and Agnes Fogerty have taught at the school for as long as anyone can remember, but now they're thinking and talking about retirement. It won't be an easy adjustment....

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....

"No matter how devoted, dedicated, conscientious and altogether noble a teacher is, I feel pretty sure that each and everyone feels the same sense of freedom and relief from her chains when the end of term arrives...."

On a bright summer's day, old Miss Clare, now retired from teaching, awaits the visit of her oldest friend, Emily Davis. In between, she recalls the events in their 70-year friendship....

The Cotswold village of Thrush Green is a particularly close-knit community, where many of the inhabitants have known each other since childhood....

The arrival of a stranger in the village of Thrush Green stirs up ripples of speculation and interest....

Mrs Pringle, the lugubrious school cleaner, has always been a favourite character in the Fairacre series....

From organising the school summer fete to the sometimes rather odd passions of childhood, Miss Read captures the essence of rural life as only she can....

On a blustery day in Fairacre, Miss Clare sees two strangers "pacing slowly, side by side, along the edge of Hundred Acre Field, which lay on the other side of Miss Clare's garden hedge....

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....

Fairacre is a village of cottages....

A mouse's appearance on Christmas Eve in a widow's bedroom leads to a chance encounter with a small boy....

Nestled in the heart of the Cotswolds, Thrush Green is normally a peaceful place....

The first charming Caxley tale introduces the deep-rooted camaraderie between Septimus Howard....

There are new people on the Green... When old Admiral Trigg and his sister Lucy died, their house - Tullivers - stood empty for many months....

As spring begins at Thrush Green, a series of local dramas takes hold of the community....

Gossip From Thrush Green returns readers to that delightful English village, neighbour to Fairacre, for a golden summer....

Having enjoyed robust health throughout her career, Miss Read, the village schoolmistress at Fairacre, is looking forward to an energetic retirement in a few years' time.....

When Charles Henstock, rector of Thrush Green, moves a mile downhill to the parish of Lulling, his many friends rejoice in his promotion....