Fresh from the country cover

Fresh from the country

by Miss Read

Farmer's daughter Anna Lacey, fresh from the country and from teacher's college, takes a job in a new and bleak London suburb, in a school that already holds twice the children for which it was built. The story of her first teaching year in these challenging circumstances is told with gentle wit and an understanding of the vagaries of human nature -- even among schoolteachers. Anna survives not only the terrors of teaching (unruly students, crowded classrooms, monomaniac inspectors, ambitious school staff, and confrontational parents) but also the ordeal of what must be one of literature's grimmest landladies.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?