Christmas at Fairacre [Hardcover]

Miss Read (Author)

Book Description

Series: Fairacre | Publication Date: November 7, 2007

Have a happy Christmas in the English countryside with a volume of three heartwarming holiday tales from Miss Read.

As frost sparkles on cottage roofs and smoke rises from chimneys, the English village of Fairacre is a perfect vision of Christmas joy — but even in this cozy community, celebrations of the season do not always go as expected. In this enchanting holiday collection, Miss Read shares three of her most beloved and memorable Christmas tales.

In Village Christmas, the Emery family is preparing to celebrate their first Christmas in Fairacre, having moved from London just three months before, and to welcome the birth of their fourth child. When the unexpected happens on Christmas morning, their new neighbors, the elderly Waters sisters, are fortunately nearby to lend a hand.

The Christmas Mouse takes us to the nearby village of Caxley. Mrs. Berry has just finished her Christmas Eve preparations when a winter storm brings two visitors seeking refuge to her hospitable home. Their chance encounter will make this an unforgettable Christmas for them all.

In No Holly for Miss Quinn, a family emergency disrupts Miss Quinn’s plans for a quiet and fuss-free holiday. She agrees to look after her brother’s three young children while their mother is ill and soon finds herself swept away by holiday traditions, the infectious enthusiasm of the children, and the surprising arrival of someone from her past.

For uplifting reading, no one rivals Miss Read. Her delightful Christmas tales brim with good cheer and the spirit of Christmas itself.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"To receive a book by Miss Read in the dead of winter is like coming on a group of purple crocuses in the snow. Or perhaps it's like biting into a tart red apple, because Miss Read is often tart in a gentle sort of way. Her humor is delightful and her quiet style with its simple and innocent content gives proof of the fact that there is still a large audience for the decent book about normanl people." (Chattanooga Times )

"Miss Read is her charming self once more as she spins a delightful tale of ordinary people and ordinary lives in her own extraordinary way. Tuck it under the Christmas tree for someone special." (Publishers Weekly (1976) )

About the Author

Miss Read is the pseudonym of Mrs. Dora Saint, a former schoolteacher beloved for her novels of English rural life, especially those set in the fictional villages of Thrush Green and Fairacre. The first of these, Village School, was published in 1955, and Miss Read continued to write until her retirement in 1996. In the 1998, she was awarded an MBE, or Member of the Order of the British Empire, for her services to literature. She lives in Berkshire.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st edition (November 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618918108
• ISBN-13: 978-0618918102
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Christmas must read, October 30, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christmas at Fairacre: Village Christmas/Christmas Mouse/No Holly for Miss Quinn (The Fairacre Christmas Omnibus) (Hardcover)

Houghton Mifflin is releasing one of my all-time favorite books by the beloved Miss Read (pen name for Dora Saint). It's the hardcover version of Christmas at Fairacre. and it's simply delightful. This volume encompasses three of her other novels: No Holly for Miss Quinn, Village Christmas and The Christmas Mouse. No one in the world can write with such love and feeling about English village life like Miss Read.

Miss Read is the schoolmistress in Fairacre, and in this title she shares some of the best and most memorable Christmases of the English countryside. I always say: Miss Read can make polishing the schoolhouse stove exciting. And this volume is no exception.

As anyone knows, even the best laid plans often go awry. And thus it is in Fairacre during the Christmas season.

In Village Christmas we see that all the things about a person, or about in life, that can be seen as different and keep people separate, are really not important in view of the miracle of a Christmas birth. The birth of a little boy.

In The Christmas Mouse finds a visitor arriving on Christmas Eve. It is the meeting between an elderly woman and a young boy that will be long remembered.

In No Holly for Miss Quinn, Miss Quinn is the secretary to a Caxley businessman. She's extremely competent, unsentimental and chooses to spend Christmas without any fuss or family. But an emergency casts a new light on her thoughts of things when Christmas is viewed through the eyes of children. Oh, and there is an unexpected surprise.

And check out the other Miss Read releases by Houghton Mifflin. You'll be thrilled that you did. They are books that never go out of style. Their charm is sometimes because Miss Read writes about a simpler and gentler time. And that gives the reader such satisfaction.

Armchair Interviews says: Christmas at Fairacre is a must read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Miss Read, author of Treasures, February 11, 2010

By 

Marion T. Silliman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christmas at Fairacre: "Village Christmas", "Christmas Mouse" and "No Holly for Miss Quinn" (Hardcover)

Miss Read, now 97 years old, has written at least 30 books depicting English life in an era that is fast or has vanished.
Her books sparkle with a robust sense of humor, uncanny descriptions of delightful characters, all woven together with
a philosophy of "love thy neighbor" which is very refreshing in this world of violence and tawdry interests.
Anyone is the better for a session with Miss Read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Read, December 7, 2011

By 

FYI (The West) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christmas at Fairacre (Hardcover)

"The Christmas Mouse" is a "tail" to read aloud on a cold winter's night: "Behind the row of wallflower plants, close to the bricks of the cottage, scurried the mouse, nose twitching. It ran across the garden path, dived under the cotoneaster bush, scrambled up the mossy step by the disused wall, turned sharp right through the jungle of dried grass behind the garden shed, and streaked, unerringly, to the third hawthorn bush in the hedge. There, at the foot, screened by ground ivy, was its hole. It dived down into the loose sandy earth, snuffling the dear frowsty smell of mouse family and mouse food. Home at last!" - from the 1966 HC, pg 171. This story of a family finding hope and faith, and sharing charity with a mouselike stranger, will delight listeners of all ages.