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Round Ringford #4
Orphan Lamb
Peggy Palmer at the Post Office Stores watched as young Mandy and Robert Bates, newly married, run into tragedy and struggle. She sees the impact on the village when Nancy Bridget, blonde and leggy, arrives at the Hall to take charge in the latest in the long line of Standings, and listens with amusement as Ivy, Ellen and Doris, nicknamed 'the three witches of Ringford', make their crabby comments on the village goings-on. There is comedy, tragedy, joy and sorrow in this intimate community of a small English village.
- GenresFiction
392 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
6 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Ann Purser
37 books141 followersAnn Purser lives in the East Midlands, in a small and attractive village which still has a village shop, a garage, pub and church. Here she finds her inspiration for her novels about country life. She has only to do her daily shopping down the High Street to listen to the real life of the village going on around her.
Before turning to fiction, she had a number of different careers, including journalism – she was for six years a columnist in SHE magazine – and art gallery proprietor. Running her own gallery in a 400-year-old barn behind the house, she gained fascinating insights into the characters and relationships of customers wandering around. She had no compunction about eavesdropping, and sharpened up her writer’s skills in weaving plots around strangers who spent sometimes more than an hour in her gallery.
Working in a village school added more grist to the mill, as does singing in the church choir and membership of the Women’s Guild. She reminds herself humbly that Virginia Woolf was President of her local WI…
Six years hard study won her an Open University degree, and when she faltered and threatened to fall by the wayside, writer husband Philip Purser reminded her that he was paying good money for the course. During this period, she wrote two non-fiction books, one for parents of handicapped children (she has a daughter with cerebral palsy) and the other a lighthearted book for schools, on the explosion of popular entertainment in the first forty years of the twentieth century.
Ten years of running the gallery proved to be enough, and while it was very successful she decided to sell. The business moved down the street to another barn and owner, and Pursers stayed on in their house next to the village school – another rich source of material for the stories. Time to start writing novels.
Round Ringford became Ann’s village in a series of six novels, each with a separate story, but featuring the same cast of characters with a few newcomers each time. The list of books gives details of each story, and each features an issue common to all villages in our rural countryside. “Just like our village!” is a frequent comment from Ann’s readers.
Next: the Lois Meade Mysteries, each title reflecting a day of the week. Ann has always loved detective fiction, and determined to make it her next series. So Murder on Monday was born, followed by Terror on Tuesday, and Weeping on Wednesday. The rest of the week follows!
Mornings are set aside for writing, and the rest of the day Ann spends walking the dog, retrieving bantams’ eggs from around the garden, gossiping and taking part in the life of the village. She is never bored!
Before turning to fiction, she had a number of different careers, including journalism – she was for six years a columnist in SHE magazine – and art gallery proprietor. Running her own gallery in a 400-year-old barn behind the house, she gained fascinating insights into the characters and relationships of customers wandering around. She had no compunction about eavesdropping, and sharpened up her writer’s skills in weaving plots around strangers who spent sometimes more than an hour in her gallery.
Working in a village school added more grist to the mill, as does singing in the church choir and membership of the Women’s Guild. She reminds herself humbly that Virginia Woolf was President of her local WI…
Six years hard study won her an Open University degree, and when she faltered and threatened to fall by the wayside, writer husband Philip Purser reminded her that he was paying good money for the course. During this period, she wrote two non-fiction books, one for parents of handicapped children (she has a daughter with cerebral palsy) and the other a lighthearted book for schools, on the explosion of popular entertainment in the first forty years of the twentieth century.
Ten years of running the gallery proved to be enough, and while it was very successful she decided to sell. The business moved down the street to another barn and owner, and Pursers stayed on in their house next to the village school – another rich source of material for the stories. Time to start writing novels.
Round Ringford became Ann’s village in a series of six novels, each with a separate story, but featuring the same cast of characters with a few newcomers each time. The list of books gives details of each story, and each features an issue common to all villages in our rural countryside. “Just like our village!” is a frequent comment from Ann’s readers.
Next: the Lois Meade Mysteries, each title reflecting a day of the week. Ann has always loved detective fiction, and determined to make it her next series. So Murder on Monday was born, followed by Terror on Tuesday, and Weeping on Wednesday. The rest of the week follows!
Mornings are set aside for writing, and the rest of the day Ann spends walking the dog, retrieving bantams’ eggs from around the garden, gossiping and taking part in the life of the village. She is never bored!
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 18, 2023
I loved this book. It reminded me of village back in my very young childhood. Peggy Palmer runs the local village shop - a real relic of the past. I could still remember our village shop which carried all the basics a bit more pricey but convenient. Peggy's husband, Frank, has been dead for several years when the book begins. He and Peggy moved to the country to run the shop but he was killed very soon after their arrival. Peggy, a lady in her 50's, decides to continue with the plan. The man who discovered her husband after his accident, Bill Turner, becomes her love interest, but already unhappily married to Joyce, who is in a home suffering from mental illness, he and Peggy share snatched moments away from the prying eyes of the villagers. However, being a village, everyone knows everyone's business, including the difficult relationship between Robert Bates, his wife, Mandy, and his farming parents. Robert doesn't want to farm but to run a garage which causes friction between his parents and other village members. I loved the gossip, the intrigue and the very real struggles of the villagers all comforted and supported by Peggy and the shop. A lovely, gentle read evoking the past.
August 9, 2008
Not a mystery, but author is same as the series about Lois Meade, who solved mysteries while working as a house cleaner in a small village. This story is mostly about different people in a small village and their entertwined lives and everyone knowing everyone else's business. The descriptions of people makes it easy to imagine what they look and act like. I don't know if this will be exciting enough for everyone, but it was just right for me.
March 16, 2008
I picked this book up in a charity shop some time ago. It seems to be the 2nd or 3rd in a series about the village of Round Ringford. I shall certainly be seeking out the rest of the books.
October 28, 2013
I liked it. Third of six and the story is getting better.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews