<DIV>In the English village of Fairacre, the retired schoolteachers Dolly Clare and Emily Davis enjoyed a remarkable friendship, as this moving volume reveals. Childhood playmates in Beech Green, they would remain close throughout their long lives, eventually sharing a cottage in their retirement. They felt grief when a village family was lost on the Titanic. They each experienced young love and then heartbreak when the First World War interrupted both of their romances. The triumphs and tragedies of their days are depicted with all the humor, heartbreak, and human warmth for which Miss Read is known, providing a sensitive portrait of life in the country.</div>