(11/20) Farther Afield (24 page)

Authors: Miss Read

Tags: #Pastoral Fiction, #Crete (Greece), #Country Life - England, #General, #Literary, #Country Life, #England, #Fiction, #Villages - England

BOOK: (11/20) Farther Afield

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'Have they fixed the wedding date?'

'Yes. It's to be the first week in January. You're going to be invited, so you'd better start looking for that winter coat.'

'I will,' I said meekly.

'We shall be back for the wedding, of course,' said Amy.

'Back?' I echoed.

'From our holiday. James wants to go as soon as he's fit again, and that won't be long now.'

'And where are you going?'

Amy's voice bubbled with laughter.

'Can't you guess? To Crete.'

'
Perfect
!' I cried.

In a flash, I saw again that golden island, and breathed the heady scent of flowers and sun-baked earth. One day, I knew suddenly, I should go there once more.

'Give it all my love,' I said.

M
ISS
R
EAD
is the pen name of Mrs. Dora Saint, who was born on April 17, 1913. A teacher by profession, she began writing for several journals after World War II and worked as a scriptwriter for the BBC. She is the author of many immensely popular books, but she is especially beloved for her novels of English rural life set in the fictional villages of Fairacre and Thrush Green. The first of these,
Village School,
was published in 1955 by Michael Joseph Ltd. in England and by Houghton Mifflin in the United States. Miss Read continued to write until her retirement in 1996. In 1998 she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to literature. She lives in Berkshire.

The Fairacre Series

"Miss Read, a gentle soul with kindly interest in all around her, is the master of the kind of detail that shows place and character in delicate focus ... there's no underestimating the power of rural English charm."—
Publishers Weekly