A Peaceful Retirement [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Miss Read (Author), Sian Phillips (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2002

Fairacre's retired schoolmistress was looking ahead joyfully to an easier way of life. But right from the start of her holiday, Miss Read receives lots of advice on how to spend it, not least of all from her morose cleaner. Then there are the many requests for her services: Miss Read has the opportunity to become a prison visitor, baby-minder, and even a regular for local radio. Add in an offer of marriage from her good friend, John Jenkins, and it seems a retirement that's far from peaceful...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An occasional cisit to Fairacre offers a restful change from the freneic pace of the contempory world." (Publishers Weekly ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Chivers Press; Unabridged edition (February 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754054721
• ISBN-13: 978-0754054726
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 7.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,946,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

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.