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Round Ringford #3
New Every Morning
Details the troubles in the town of Round Ringford when Peggy Palmer's new marriage is thrown into upheaval, and a new headteacher is brought in at the Ringford School whose new ideas cause much opposition in the village
410 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 1997
About the author
Ann Purser
38 books140 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!
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 28, 2017
I love books about small towns and decent people leading ordinary lives. I never know when I find a new author if they'll get it right, though. Some books like that turn out to be about narrow-minded, unhappy folks who are all miserable and enjoy making each other miserable, too. Those stories make me miserable. The other end of the spectrum are writers who seem to think small town people are perfect angels and that everyone is always happy and helpful. I don't like those, either. So I wasn't sure what to think when I received a pre-publication e-copy of this book to read and review, since I've not read any books by Purser before.
The author didn't make either of those extreme mistakes and I very much enjoyed what I could read of this book. Unfortunately the copy-for-review that I received was so hard to read I simply couldn't finish it, though I kept trying. "'And the vicar, of course,he's involved, it being a Churchschool.' A strangely soft look came intoIvy's eyes. 'That's one goodthing,' she said." Over 300 pages of this was too much for me. It's possible that if I'd been able to read a cleaner copy I would have found the writing a touch flowery for my taste, but I'm pretty sure I would have really enjoyed the story. So I'll give it 3 stars and see if my library can get it for me to finish.
The author didn't make either of those extreme mistakes and I very much enjoyed what I could read of this book. Unfortunately the copy-for-review that I received was so hard to read I simply couldn't finish it, though I kept trying. "'And the vicar, of course,he's involved, it being a Churchschool.' A strangely soft look came intoIvy's eyes. 'That's one goodthing,' she said." Over 300 pages of this was too much for me. It's possible that if I'd been able to read a cleaner copy I would have found the writing a touch flowery for my taste, but I'm pretty sure I would have really enjoyed the story. So I'll give it 3 stars and see if my library can get it for me to finish.
October 13, 2015
eARC: Netgalley
I started this series wanting to like it, but I think I'm done with this one. I guess I was hoping for something more along the lines of Miss Read, but it's very different.
I started this series wanting to like it, but I think I'm done with this one. I guess I was hoping for something more along the lines of Miss Read, but it's very different.
November 9, 2015
Good
the small village or town in ENGLAND that continues to live life as their families had done for so many had to fight politics to stay they wanted life to 've.
the small village or town in ENGLAND that continues to live life as their families had done for so many had to fight politics to stay they wanted life to 've.
July 3, 2017
this book is listed as book 3 in the series but I think it should be book 4 and that Orphan Lamb should be book 3. It starts off with Peggy and Bill married but in Orphan Lamb they are not. I enjoy reading Ann Purser books and learning about life on a small village in England.
April 4, 2023
This is a delightful book about village life, following the lives of those who live there and all the ups and downs that life brings, I couldn't put it down yet was really sad when I finished it.
August 22, 2016
A sweet story of English life set in a small sleepy country village. The small school is under threat of closure, the villagers rally round to try and save their school.
I have known characters very similar to those portrayed in this book. Every character was depicted truly but not vindictively.
I didn’t realise it was the third in the series when I downloaded it but due to the quality of the writing it didn’t detract from the storyline or any of the characters.
This is a slow and gentle look at life combined with a bit of mystery, jealousy, love and redemption, forgiveness is sometimes hard to give and maybe even harder to take in some cases.
A lovely read.
I have known characters very similar to those portrayed in this book. Every character was depicted truly but not vindictively.
I didn’t realise it was the third in the series when I downloaded it but due to the quality of the writing it didn’t detract from the storyline or any of the characters.
This is a slow and gentle look at life combined with a bit of mystery, jealousy, love and redemption, forgiveness is sometimes hard to give and maybe even harder to take in some cases.
A lovely read.
April 17, 2016
I had been somewhat reluctant to pick this up to read because the cover looked so uninspiring - really proves you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I live in the same county as the author and found the setting very familiar. The characters were well thought out with a good cross section of the sort of village people you would expect to find and I found that I genuinely cared about whether or not the school was going to close. I predicted the ending but found that it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the story. Looking forward to reading more from this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2013
#4 in the series and just okay. I like some of the characters and will finish the series, but nothing special.
April 1, 2015
A very enjoyable read. I've missed a book in between so join this when Peggy and Bill have married. Great story. Wow to ivy! I look forward to reading the book I've missed.
October 2, 2015
This book is published by Endeavour Press.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews