Miss Read

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Miss Read
Born
Dora Jessie Shafe

(1913-04-17)17 April 1913
South Norwood, London, England
Died7 April 2012(2012-04-07) (aged 98)
Shefford Woodlands, Berkshire, England

Dora Jessie Saint MBE (17 April 1913 – 7 April 2012), [1] [2] née Shafe, best known by the pen name Miss Read, was an English novelist and, by profession, a schoolmistress. Her pseudonym was derived from her mother's maiden name. [3] She is best known for two series of novels set in the English countryside, the Fairacre novels and the Thrush Green novels.

Contents

Biography

Dora Jessie Shafe was born on 17 April 1913 in London, the younger of the daughters of Arthur Shafe, an insurance agent, and his wife Grace. For the sake of her mother's health, the family moved to the country when Dora was seven, and she began school in Chelsfield, near Orpington, Kent, [4] and later joined her older sister at Bromley county school. When her father became a schoolmaster, Dora followed his example and undertook teacher training at Homerton College, Cambridge.

From 1933 to 1940 she taught in Middlesex, first at Hayes and then at Ealing.

In 1940 she married Douglas Saint; they had one daughter, Jill. [3]

After World War II she worked occasionally as a teacher, and began writing about schools and country topics for several magazines, including Punch and the Times Educational Supplement . She also worked as a scriptwriter for the BBC schools service.

From 1955 to 1996 Saint wrote a series of novels centered on two fictional villages, Fairacre and Thrush Green. The first Fairacre novel appeared in 1955, the last in 1996. The first Thrush Green novel appeared in 1959. The principal character in the Fairacre books, Miss Read, is an unmarried schoolteacher in a small village school, an acerbic and yet compassionate observer of village life. Saint's novels are wry regional social comedies, laced with gentle humour and subtle social commentary. Saint was also a keen observer of nature and the changing seasons.

Many of the village novels were illustrated by J.S. (John Strickland) Goodall (1908-1996), an artist and picture-book author in his own right. [5]

Saint also wrote two volumes of autobiography, A Fortunate Grandchild (1982) and Time Remembered (1986); the two were issued together in 1995 as Early Days. [6]

Saint wrote 28 novels, 2 autobiographies and 14 other books; her books were translated into several languages including Japanese and Russian. [7]

Saint retired in 1996. In 1998 she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire [3] for her services to literature. She and her husband lived in Chieveley near Newbury in Berkshire.

Her husband died in 2004. [3] She died on 7 April 2012.

Influences and legacy

One of the writers who influenced Saint was Jane Austen. Saint's work also bears some similarities to the social comedies of manners written in the 1920s and 1930s and to the work of Barbara Pym.

Miss Read's work has in turn influenced a number of writers, including American writer Jan Karon. The musician Enya has a track on her Watermark album named after Saint's book Miss Clare Remembers, and one on her Shepherd Moons album titled No Holly for Miss Quinn. [8]

Bibliography

The Fairacre novels:

The first three books (marked with *) have been published in a single volume, Chronicles of Fairacre. The three Christmas books marked with ** have been published together.

Thrush Green books:

Children's books:

Autobiography:

These two were also published in an omnibus edition titled Early Days.

Other books she wrote:

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References

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