When I was compiling my To Be Read Pile for Autumn 2024, I remembered thinking that I had not read a MIss Read novel in too long. It seemed fitting therefore that whilst between reads and unsure what book to pick next, that I turned to my dear friend Miss Read and picked up the next in the Fairacre series which featured the most beautiful autumnal cover. It was meant to be!

Read My To Be Read Pile Autumn 2024

The Plot

The village school is threatened with closure and shadows hang over Miss Read's future as schoomistress. Moreover troubles never come singly and tangled matrimonial affairs and a police investigation add to the tension and unease in the village. But the villagers are a militant band and rise to face the new challenge.

My Thoughts

I love how Miss Read experiments with the novels of Fairacre, whether it be a book written as a diary, reminisces of village stalwarts or reflections on the past. Village Affairs returns to the classic story format, the school is threatened with closure and this feels like another carefully curated novel selection.

I call Miss Read my old friend, and indeed, her characters are becoming equally beloved. Mrs Pringle, her niece Minnie, Mr Lamb, Joseph Coggs all are here gathered together.

Interspersed throughout the novel are musings about village life and nature, the two often hand-in-hand with each other, the changing of the seasons reflected on by all. It's comforting and allows us the reader to slow down and really reflect on these themes.

But of course there is the classic Miss Read dry humour. The terror casued by Minnie when she cleans for Miss Read and the random amount of places where she leaves a drying cloth, which range from the stair bannister to the fridge.

It has been lovely to snuggle in with this book, and it is a measure of how much I am enjoying the series that I've ordered the next two on the list.