Tyler's Row by Miss Read, 322 pages

Miss Read, whose real name is Dora Jessie Saint, has been producing these delightful novels of English village life since 1956.Peter Hale, a teacher from Caxley, and his wife, Diana, buy a charming row of four dilapidated cottages in Fairacre and begin converting them into a retirement dreamhouse. Conversion is constantly interrupted by the lively feud between current tenants of Tyler's Row.