Miss Read

The Howards of Caxley begins on a fine May morning in the fateful year of 1939....

A new excitement comes to the village of Thrush Green when Harold Shoosmith, a distinguished bachelor....

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....

Fairacre is a village of cottages, a church and the school, and at the heart of the school, its head mistress, Miss Read....

Fairacre is a village of cottages....

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....

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

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

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....

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

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....

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

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

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

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

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 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....

The people of Fairacre are up in arms about the possible closure of the village school. This anxious time for Miss Read is made bearable by the support of all her friends and neighbours....

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....

Summer at Fairacre charmingly recounts this bright, bustling season and the problems and possibilities that unfold against the backdrop of roses, skylarks and bees....