A Peaceful Retirement (Fairacre) [Hardcover]

Miss Read (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 1997 | Series: Fairacre

Far from peaceful, Miss Read's first year of retirement is filled with homespun adventures, as this charming book brings the Fairacre series of novels to a close. Having bid farewell to her pupils at Fairacre School, Miss Read finds herself as busy and in demand as ever, on holiday in Florence, helping with church and school affairs, and offering a kindly ear to her often eccentric neighbors. Soon she is counseling Henry Mawne on his thorny marriage, gently resisting her own perennial suitor, John Jenkins, and, finally, discovering her talent for writing. Once again, Miss Read's affection for the minutiae of village life, her love of nature, and her good humor make her excellent company. Miss Read's many fans will have more to look forward to: the author will continue to add to her Thrush Green series of novels.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An occasional cisit to Fairacre offers a restful change from the freneic pace of the contempory world." (Publishers Weekly )

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 151 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; First Edition edition (October 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395850622
• ISBN-13: 978-0395850626
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,646,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Miss Read returns us again to a place we may already live., February 26, 1999

By 

Robert H. Nunnally Jr. "gurdonark" (Allen, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Peaceful Retirement (Fairacre) (Hardcover)

Miss Read's novels capture the best aspects of the small town provincial novel--the sense of connection, the wry Austenisms--while leaving the sentimentality and pollyanna-ism sometimes afflicting the genre to her lesser imitators. A Peaceful Retirement brings us another step--perhaps a final step--nearer to the end of this series. I recommend this series, and this book within the series, to anyone who wishes that a novel might have both a 20th C. awareness and a somewhat 19th C. sense of perspective....Most people have not discovered Miss Read, and one somehow wonders if "most people" really ought to. But I am certainly glad that I did....

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One last visit with friends, September 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Peaceful Retirement (Fairacre) (Hardcover)

I enjoyed my visit with Miss Read and all her friends. It was like going home again. I feel I also know all of the people. I wish that this was not the last book.

This maybe the last book but you will find it is a new beginning for all of us.

Get yourself a cup of tea and sit down and enjoy yourself with some old friends.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars miss read's #1 fan!!!, September 24, 2000

By 

Janet Cucci (valley sream, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Peaceful Retirement (Fairacre Chronicles) (Audio Cassette)

I just finished reading "A Peaceful Retirement". Just like her other books, it was excellent reading. I was sorry when the book ended because I wanted to read more. Few years ago I wrote Miss Read a letter stating I loved all her books. She was kind enough to write me a handwritten letter in reply. After a hetic day, I look forward to reading her books and revisit the loveable characters in the quiet town.