Farther Afield by Miss Read, 336 pages

Miss Read, whose real name is Dora Jessie Saint, has been producing these delightful novels of English village life since 1956.On the first day of the summer holidays Miss Read plunges literally into the end of term, by falling downstairs and breaking her arm and twisting her ankle. Her old friend Amy Garfield insists on taking her on holiday to the idyllic island of Crete. The two women, so dissimilar but united in friendship, have time to assess the values of married and single life.