Fairwell to Fairacre & A Peaceful Retirement

These are the final two in the Chronicles of Fairacre series - twenty books in total and every one a delight.

#19 Fairwell To Fairacre sees Miss Read suffering declining health and considering early retirement. But until that time her days are filled with the antics of her school children; run-ins with Mrs. Pringle, the disagreeable school cleaner; the never-ending problems of friend, Henry; and a marriage proposal from a charming man with "silvery hair" and "devastating blue eyes". 

#20 A Pleasant Retirement finds Miss Read adjusting to a busier retirement than she had anticipated. Visitors at the door, telephone calls, and friends and neighbours seeking her participation in community activities now that she "has all this empty time on her hands" give her little opportunity for solitude. Henry's problems come to head, John continues to propose regularly, and Miss Read enjoys a vacation in Italy with her best friend Amy. The series concludes with a new beginning for her as she puts pen to paper and begins chronicling tales of Fairacre and its people.

Reading through this series is one of the best things I've ever done for myself. When I grew weary of more troubling stories - war, grief, illness, disaster - I'd return to Fairacre to be reminded that there are gentle people in quiet places doing the best they can and appreciating the beauty in everyday things. Not that it's all sweetness all the time. No, Miss Read's often barbed wit injects enough reality - not to mention entertainment - to make the books both comforting and realistic. They have been my "happy place" for the past few years and I'm sad now to have come to the end, but happily our library still has the full series in their catalogue. I'll probably read them all again one day.

I've quoted this from Publisher's Weekly before but it sums these books up so beautifully that I'll use it one more time:

 "Miss Read has created an orderly universe in which people are kind and conscientious and cherish virtues and manners now considered antiquated elsewhere...An occasional visit to Fairacre offers a restful change from the frenetic pace of the contemporary world" 

And I'll throw in the one from Kirkus Reviews too:

"A soothing oasis of tidy living for the frazzled reader weary of an untidy world." 

Wonderful, wonderful books. It's best to read them in order but you'll be doing yourself a favour by picking up any one of them and spending a little time in Miss Read's Fairacre village.