"Village School" by Miss Read

This was my second attempt at reading this book and this time around I got through it. Last time, I just wasn't in the mood for a slow-paced English-village-comedy-of-manners kind of narrative. Village School is the first book in a long series centered on a fictional English village called Fairacre set in the 1950s. The story is told by the local school headmistress Miss Read. The author herself was a schoolteacher and quite possibly used a lot of material from her own life for the books.

Village School is fairly short (under 250 pages), and is written as a compilation of short vignettes about the life of the school. We start on the first day of the term and follow the headmistress, her students and the various village inhabitants until the school year ends. There is no real plot. Nothing major really happens. What you get is a great glimpse into what an English village school was like in the 1950s. You also get a cast of likable characters, and well-written stories about every day life in the village. I ended up really enjoying this book. At one point while reading, I did think it was a bit dull. But the author has a wonderful sense of humor and I found myself chuckling quite a bit at her witty good-natured commentary on village manners and habits.

If you enjoy cozy reads set in the English country side about simpler times and life, I would definitely recommend Miss Read and this series. I have read one other of her books from another series called Thrush Green, and it was also wonderful. 4 out of 5 stars.