The school at Thrush Green Book

I'm going to do a combined review for all the remaining Thrush Green books (with the exception of Christmas) because although they are all excellent, they are also all basically the same, in the way that episodes of The Archers are all the same. So, still worth reading; but hard to differentiate one book from another.

The attraction comes from seeing the seasons ebb and flow, and picking up the stories of the characters. There are changes - characters die, babies are born, houses are built, newcomers arrive, people retire, fall ill and/or become increasingly eccentric. There is no reference to events in the outside world - the importance is attached to events in the local community. And those events are rarely dramatic (this isn't Midsomer). They are real.

Anybody who is considering relocating to a village should read these books to get an idea of what they would be moving to. And anybody who thinks these books are unrealistic, or sentimental, has either never lived in a village, or didn't join in properly when they did!