The Little Village School (Phinn Gervase); Hodder & Stoughton, 2012

She was wearing red shoes! With silver heels!

Elisabeth Devine causes quite a stir on her arrival in the village. No one can understand why the head of a big inner city school would want to come to sleepy little Barton-in-the-Dale, to a primary with more problems than school dinners. And that's not even counting the challenges the mysterious Elisabeth herself will face: a bitter former head teacher, a grumpy caretaker and a duplicitous chair of governors, to name but a few.

Then there's the gossip. After all, a woman who would wear red shoes to an interview is obviously capable of anything . . .

Warm, funny and poignant, Gervase Phinn's first novel for adults creates a fictional world that's as real as can be. It will delight all his fans, and win him many more.