Farther Afield: The sixth novel in the Fairacre series
About this ebook
'Delicious wit, quirky characters, the colourful intrigues of daily life, and certainly love and laughter ... delightful' bestselling author Jan Karon
'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...'
So it is for Miss Read - but on the very first day of the long summer holiday she falls and breaks her arm. Instantly, all her plans for the holidays are in tatters.
But Miss Read's friend, Amy, comes up with an idea: and so it is that the two of them leave Fairacre for the island of Crete. The change of scene provides a welcome break for both women, giving Miss Read the opportunity to recuperate, and for them both to discuss the merits of single and married life. And when Miss Read returns, refreshed, to Fairacre, she is ready to tackle the problems which await her...
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About the author
Miss Read, or in real life Dora Saint, was a teacher by profession who started writing after the second world war, beginning with light essays written for Punch and other journals. She then wrote on educational and country matters and worked as a scriptwriter for the BBC. Miss Read was married to a schoolmaster for sixty-four years until his death in 2004, and they had one daughter.
Miss Read was awarded an MBE in the 1998 New Year Honours list for her services to literature, She was the author of many immensely popular books, including two autobiographical works, but it was her novels of English rural life for which she was best known. The first of these Village School, was published in 1955, and Miss Read continued to write about the fictional villages of Fairacre and Thrush Green for many years. She lived near Newbury in Berkshire until her death in 2012.
Four plays based on her work have been written by Ron Perry, Miss Read's Thrush Green, Miss Read Remembered, Return to Thrush Green and The Village School.