At the time of writing, I am looking forward to visiting my family with my lovely husband tomorrow. I cannot wait to see them. I haven't seen my parents since earlier this year and my Sister since September last year. She is now bubbling with my parents and it is her birthday today. Happy Birthday! It will be such fun to engage in our family jokes, play board games and have some good chats all fuelled by my Sister's extremely strong coffee. My Sister has somehow managed to perfect the art of making decaf coffee so strong that it makes your teeth chatter. Our reunion is due to take place in my parent's sleepy village and it's going to be great.

My book review for today is about another sleepy village in Return to Thrush Green by Miss Read. This is May's choice for the #missreadalong2021 that I am partaking in. This involves reading the Thrush Green novels in order, one a month throughout 2021. I can't believe we are 5 months in already. If you've missed any I've put them below.

Read January's Selection - Thrush Green

Read February's Selection - Winter in Thrush Green

Read March's Selection - News in Thrush Green

Read April's Selection - Battles at Thrush Green

Plot

As we return to Thrush Green, we find it is Spring and there are lots of new characters to add to our usual old friends. Joan Young's father comes back to Thrush Green, in need of recuperation after a period of ill-health. Miss Fogerty welcomes her friend, Isobel, recently widowed and looking for a new place to live. Isobel soon catches the attentions of Harold Shoosmith, who throughout this series of books has been slightly unlucky in love. Ben and Molly Curdle need to reach a decision about the fair. They have had an offer from a much larger fair to sell. But what would Ben do? And at miserable Albert Piggott's home, his errant wife, Nelly, has returned after her fling with the oilman. Will marital harmony return?

My Thoughts

I enjoyed reading this. It's a gentle reminder of life in a quiet country village. It was lovely to be reunited with old favourites such as Dotty Harmer, Ella and Dimity, Harold and Charles and the incorrigible Lovelock sisters. And it was also nice to see some fresh faces come into the story. I'm looking forward to reading more about them in the next few books.

This didn't quite have the punch that battles in Thrush Green had. And felt like a starting again novel after we had said goodbye to Doctor Bailey in the previous novel. The humour and wry observances are still there. The scenes involving the Lovelock Sisters, Nelly and the long-suffering cat were good fun.

Unusually for this series, Miss Read appears to have left this novel relatively untouched by the outside world. Ella is looking for a lodger, Ben a job. But the events of the mid 1970s have little impact on the villagers of Thrush Green.

As always, this novel is just like reconnecting with an old friend. But in this instance there was not too much news to impart, but still nice to see them anyway. After the emotion of Battles of Thrush Green, this was a small respite, a chance to draw a breath. I'm looking forward to returning to Thrush Green for June's read which is Gossip from Thrush Green.