As Christmas approaches, I find that I want to read something cosy, like the Fairacre series by Miss Read. The next book in the series is Book 4 – Miss Clare Remembers – but for some reason, the library only has the copy where it’s bundled together with Book 8 – Emily Davis.

Miss Clare remembers moves away from the perspective of Miss Read and focuses on Miss Clare, Fairacre’s well-beloved teacher who had to retire due to health problems. I always liked Miss Clare and enjoyed her stories, so it was a treat to read about her life. Miss Clare was born during the Victorian era and lived through a lot of things.

While the story is told with a lot of affection, it’s clear that lives back then wasn’t easy. Sure, you had the village spirit, but there was also great poverty. The first few chapters open with a description of the ‘marsh lot’, the people who lived in slums and from their “dank dwellings, very early each morning, issued the old crones who cleaned steps or scrubbed out shops, the labourers on nearby farms, and those employed in digging a new way for a branch line of the local railway.” In fact, we learn that the disagreeable Mrs Pringle (who was disagreeable from the start) was hired after the previous leaning lady was found dead “rolled up in a thin grey blanket before an empty grate” a week or two after she passed away.

Amid this poverty, Dolly Clare grows up, learns what it means to be a teacher, and even falls in love. Her life is full of heartbreak, but she manages to find beauty in everything. We also get to find out why she and her sister have such a tense relationship – something hinted at in the previous books.

Miss Clare ends just as Emily Davis is about to arrive at Dolly Clare’s house. Emily Davis begins, on the other hand, with the death of Emily. I really hope that the books in between don’t feature Emily too prominently because it will be so sad to read if they do.

Although Emily is only ‘alive’ at the beginning, her death sends ripples throughout Fairacre and beyond and as people hear the news, they remember. We learn more about Emily’s childhood, her tragic love affair, and how she has always been a faithful friend to Dolly Clare and others in the village.

I can see why these two books are bundled together. Dolly Clare and Emily Davis were meant to be fast friends and reading these two books let me see how deep and genuine their friendship was. These books are an affectionate portrayal of these two characters and the time they lived in.