Miss Read Books in Order

Miss Read has written 53 books, published between 1955 and 2013. The first book is Fresh from the Country (1955) and the newest is Mrs. Griffin Sends Her Love and Other Writings (2013). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books: 53
Published: 1955–2013
Pages on record: 8,700 in 42 of 53 books
Reading time: 145–218 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 8,700 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 42 of 53 titles with a page count on record.

See all 53 books in order Printable Miss Read checklist

Miss Read is the pen name of Dora Jessie Saint (1913-2012), an English novelist who worked as a schoolmistress and took the name from her mother's maiden name. Two series set in the English countryside carry the reputation: the Fairacre novels, opening with Village School (1955), and the Thrush Green novels, opening with Thrush Green (1959). Village life, country schools and English Christmas stories run through the subjects. The listing holds 53 titles dated 1955 to 2013, at a median of 231 pages.

How many Miss Read books are there?

Miss Read has 53 books, released between 1955 and 2013. They include 3 series and 16 titles listed outside any series.

Miss Read series and characters in order

Each link below opens a reading-order page with every book in publication order.

Fairacre books in order 21 books
Thrush Green books in order 14 books

Miss Read books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. A group whose heading is a link has its own reading-order page; the other groups have no page of their own on this site.

Thrush Green books in order

13 books by Miss Read

1. Thrush Green
2. Winter in Thrush Green
3. News From Thrush Green
4. Battles at Thrush Green
5. Return to Thrush Green
6. Gossip from Thrush Green
7. Affairs at Thrush Green
8. At Home in Thrush Green
9. The School at Thrush Green
10. Friends at Thrush Green
11. Celebrations at Thrush Green
12. The Year at Thrush Green
and 1 more in the table above

Caxley Chronicles in order

2 books

1. The Market Square
2. The Howards of Caxley

Thrush Green Non-Fiction

1 book

1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.

Standalone books

16 books

16 Miss Read titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Miss Read Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Miss Read books run from Fresh from the Country (1955) to Mrs. Griffin Sends Her Love and Other Writings (2013), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Miss Read in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Miss Read books in order?

You only need to read Miss Read books in order within each series: the books listed here span 3 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with Miss Read

Start with the first book of the Miss Read series you want to read: Fairacre starts with Village School (1955) and Thrush Green starts with Thrush Green (1959). The earliest catalogued title overall is Fresh from the Country (1955).

What is the newest Miss Read book?

Mrs. Griffin Sends Her Love and Other Writings (2013) is the newest Miss Read book released so far.

Is there a new Miss Read book coming?

No next Miss Read book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Miss Read at a glance

No recent titles: The newest Miss Read title on record dates from 2013, 13 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
Release pace: Miss Read books have appeared about one a year on average.
Length: 8,700 pages across the 42 of 53 books with a recorded length, a median of 231 pages each.
Busiest decade: Most Miss Read books, 13 of 53, were published in the 1970s.

What the Miss Read books are about

42 of the 53 Miss Read books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: england is tagged on 27 of 42. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.

England 27 of 42 books
Country life 21 of 42 books
Fiction in English 12 of 42 books
Thrush Green (Imaginary place) 12 of 42 books
Fairacre (England : Imaginary place) 9 of 42 books
Villages 9 of 42 books
Children's fiction 3 of 42 books
Christian fiction 3 of 42 books
Christmas 2 of 42 books
English Christmas stories 2 of 42 books