Susan in NC’s Reviews > The School At Thrush Green > Status Update

“…she suddenly became conscious of living completely in the present. It came but rarely. One was either looking back anxiously…or forward to those duties which lay before one. Now…she felt the sun on her arms, heard a frenzied bee tapping on the window for escape, smelt the dark red roses which stood on the desk… All her senses seemed sharpened. It was a moment of great intensity, never to be forgotten.”

“Mr and Mrs Gibbons were newcomers to village life and, as they were anxious to play their part in Thrush Green affairs, they were heartily welcomed…Mrs Gibbons had been chief secretary to a firm of exporters in the City of London, and retained her drive, industry, and, to be frank, her formidable bossiness, in this her new place of abode. Half the residents of Thrush Green were afraid of her.”

“ ‘What was the car you drove earlier?’ he enquired. Dorothy frowned with concentration. ‘Now, what was it? I know it was a red one, with rather pretty upholstery, but I can’t think what make it was.’ Harold looked flabbergasted…Recalled to his duties as host, Harold crossed to the side-table, but he still appeared numb with shock at the abysmal ignorance of the female mind.”” ;o)