Thrush Green by Miss Read
I finished the Fairacre series last year and have just begun the Thrush Green books. I found this first one quite different than the other series in terms of sheer wordiness. In the first few chapters it seemed every blade of grass and every bird in the air were being described in minute detail. I began to fear I might not enjoy this series - unthinkable after the joys of Fairacre (and after I'd tracked down and bought every last book in the series) - but it soon improved. I do enjoy Miss Read's descriptions of nature but this seemed excessive in the beginning. I was happy to find the characters soon taking their places as the stars of the show and the setting settling into its secondary place.
It begins on May 1, Fair Day in Thrush Green, with little Paul recovering from an illness and worried the new young Doctor Lovell won't let him go to the fair. Paul's aunt Ruth, herself recovering from a broken engagement, is staying with him while his parents are away.
Mrs. Curdle, who runs the fair with an iron fist and a kind heart, knows her health is failing and that she'll either have to find a business partner or shut it down entirely. She was hoping her grandson, Ben, would take over for her, but for the past year he's been moody and undependable and she's doesn't know if she can trust him anymore.
Molly, who works at the local pub and lives with her truculent father, met and fell for Ben at last summer's fair but hasn't seen or heard from him since the fair moved on to other towns. She's excited to see him, but also resentful that he didn't stay in touch after expressing deep affection for her a year ago. She doesn't know how she'll react when she meets him again.
Then there's old Dr. Bailey and his wife, who both realize it's time for him to get help in his practice; two older ladies, Dimity and Ella, who share a house and look after each other, though Dimity seems to do the greater part; and Sam, Ben's cousin, who is finding it hard to support a wife and three children and so takes to pilfering fund's from Mrs. Curdles caravan.
It's the characters who make Miss Read's books so enjoyable. These are people you'd meet in any small town, folks generous and kind, grumpy and irritating. Familiar and comfortable. Nothing very dramatic happens plot-wise, but Miss Read weaves humour and truth and sometimes a little romance into the every day lives of these ordinary people and you end up loving them.
The Fairacre series was wonderful and it looks like Thrush Green is going to be as well. Twelve more in the series but I'll pace myself, which is to say I'll hoard them to make them last.