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Audio extract
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.Miss Read takes us through the school year, beginning with the Christmas term, when the bitterly cold weather challenges the school's ancient heating system, right through to the hot summer day when school is over for another year.
'An interview with the author … is a gorgeous bonus in an audiobook that will more than satisfy her many readers. Read by Carole Boyd, this is the very first of the Miss Read novels, and takes the listener back to a two-class school in the 1950s where she is head. The minutiae of everyday village life is beautifully observed and related to the listener with wit, gentle understanding, and a nip of irony. Very quickly, Mrs Pringle, Miss Clare and all the rest become our neighbours, too.'
Kati Nicholl
DAILY EXPRESS
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