AFFAIRS AT THRUSH GREEN

More from Thrush Green and the environs of Fairacre, Caxley, and Lulling--parishes under the kindly purview of the Reverend Charles Henstock, who stars in this latest village miniature by the armchair-Angiophile's Grandma Moses. The old rectory in Thrush Green has burnt to the ground (Gossip from Thrush Green, 1982)--so now the vicar and wife Dimity live in Lulling, where gossip is still a friendly, delicate affair. Among the problems and pleasures involving the good vicar: the rages of formidable matron Mrs. Thurgood, who's offended by the vicar's generally low-church tone and furious that he will not accept her offer of new kneelers (designed by her ungainly artist-daughter); the marital woes of lazy old Albert Piggot, whose enormous wife Nelly has run off with the gas man; the domestic situation of old dotty Dotty, whose kind niece Connie will arrive to take charge. But the major excitement here is the appearance of elderly Kit Armitage, looking for a new home in the vicinity and finding lots of older female admirers--including the three spinster Lovelock sisters. (Kit will find a younger wife, the admirable Connie, and disappointed Violet Lovelock will wipe away a tear, firmly striding off to make a pudding.) In other words: everything as always--from the J. S. Goodall illustrations to the love-matches, ailing dogs, quiet deaths, and Christmas celebrations.