The School at Thrush Green

Half the time when I read these books I think WHY AM I DOING THIS? And the other half of the time I think, ah, what the hell. Guilty pleasure. Not much to them but they are light and peaceful, and remind me of being in the countryside, and what can be bad about that?

So yeah. I like the book, even if it isn't Weighty and Important.

(And now something about it.)

Dorothy and Agnes live together in the school house, and they are planning their retirement after years of teaching in Thrush Green. Tensions ensue. (But we survive.) Dotty asks Albert to help her beautify her new duck pond. And the three well-to-do, miserly, and elderly sisters Lovelock seek someone to work bloody hard for very little money in their ancient house...

It's January in Thrush Green and spinster school teachers Dorothy Watson and Agnes Fogerty decide it's time to retire. It also means they'll be looking for a new home since their present home is owned by the school. It will be needed for their replacements. Meanwhile, the three elderly Lovelock sisters are in desperate need of household help, but their reputation as misers makes it difficult to find anyone willing to take on the job.

Miss Read's cozy novels about English village life are comfort reads. The neighbors are truly neighborly and help each other solve the problems that trouble them, which are often weighty but never unbearable because of the number of friends who step in to share the load. This is only the second book I've show more read in the Thrush Green series. I didn't like it as well as the first one I read, nor as well as the Fairacre series. Miss Dorothy is too bossy and Miss Agnes is too timid for me to warm to them. In other books I've read by the author, all of the problems are resolved by the end of the book. This one left a few threads hanging, making it seem unfinished. Readers who have finished Jan Karon's Mitford series might enjoy spending time with the villagers of Fairacre and Thrush Green. show less

The School at Thrush Green by Miss Read is the 9th book in her series of books about the village of Thrush Green and it’s inhabitants. As the title infers, this book concentrates on the upcoming retirement of two of the teachers at the village school. These two women have spent many years at the school and will be missed, but they are planning on retiring to a seaside cottage in the picaresque south-west corner of England.

As always the stories are simple and flow without urgency as the residents of Thrush Green carry on with their lives over the course of a spring and summer. There is much speculation as to who will purchase the house adjoining the school yard once the teachers vacate. Also there is a flurry of excitement when one show more house is burglarized but for the most part the book is simply capturing the progress that the seasons make and there are many descriptions of the countryside and the conditions of various gardens.

The School At Thrush Green is another heartwarming entry in this series that captures the charm and nostalgia of living in a quaint English village. In these books time virtually stands still as there is never any reference to what is happening in the outside world. Both timeless and sweet these books are true comfort reads. show less

At this point I'm starting to enjoy these books less. Miss Read introduces more serious subjects and occurrences which don't really fit with the idealised country life she has been writing about.

I've been informed that I'd like Miss Read's books.  And maybe I would, if I'd started at the beginning.  But this has too many characters, in an unfamiliar setting, and is not actually about the school but rather about the two teachers who live together and are planning to retire together and move to a warmer part of the UK.  I managed to get past 1/3 but was bored and confused, so stopped.  Too bad, because in many ways it is exactly the kind of comfort read I enjoy.