Country Christmas
Product details
- ISBN 9780752881744
- Weight: 255g
- Dimensions: 126 x 196mm
- Publication Date: 18 Sep 2008
- Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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A wonderfully nostalgic collection of Christmas tales from the enduringly popular Miss Read.
'Miss Read so understands and loves the country and can write so tenderly and humorously about the minutiae of village life without distortion or sentimentality' TLS
'Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, always appealing' New York Times
Taken from the original omnibus CHRISTMAS AT FAIRACRE, Miss Read's wonderfully festive collection of Christmas stories is packed with entertaining characters and enchanting stories.
From the rural festivities in 'Village Christmas' and 'Jingle Bells' to the pre-war story 'Christmas At Caxley 1913', the intriguing 'The Fairacre Ghost' and the poignant tale of 'The White Robin', Miss Read's wry wit and light touch is the perfect antidote to the long winter evenings.
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.
