The next in the Thrush Green Series bringing back all the old familiar characters and setting them in a lovely cosy Christmas setting perfect for a winter warmer read. A note for die-hard fans this is a story written in collaboration with Miss Read rather than by the author herself but continues the stories of well loved characters as the author intended.
The villagers of Thrush Green celebrate Christmas traditionally, in a way that has hardly changed over the generations. Children eagerly hang up their stockings, families go to church together, everyone enjoys treats of the festive season. And when it snows as the carol singers make their way round the cottages on the green, it seems as if Christmas will be perfect this year. But not everything is as peaceful as it seems. Phyllida and Frank have their work cut out for them when they agree to take on the Nativity play - made all the more difficult by an outbreak of chicken pox. The indomitable Ella has lived in Thrush Green for as long as anyone can remember, but lately she has been behaving strangely. Then there are the dreadful Burwells, newcomers to Thrush Green, who cause something of a stir with their 'home improvements'. For Nelly, owner of The Fuchsia Bush tea shop, Christmas is an especially busy time, with people dropping in for much-needed refreshment, weary from all their Christmas shopping, but then she receives an unexpected letter.
Miss Read, or in real life Dora Saint, was born 17 April 1913. A teacher by profession, she started writing after the Second World War for Punch and other journals and as a scriptwriter for the BBC. She is the author of many immensely popular books, including two autobiographical works, but it is for her novels of English rural life for which she is best known. The first of these, Village School, was published in 1955 and Miss Read continued to write about the fictitious villages of Fairacre and Thrush Green until her retirement in 1996. She lives in Berkshire, and in the 1998 New Year Honours list was awarded an MBE for her services to literature. She died in April 2012.
