Up And Down In The Dales

Up And Down In The Dales Synopsis

In Up and Down in the Dales, life for the Inspector of English is always hectic. Some of the events, like the nativity plays at Christmas or ‘little jobs’ for Dr Gore, come round the annual calendar like clockwork; others are totally unexpected and can cause happiness or concern in equal parts.

Now in his fourth year as a schools inspector, Gervase Phinn continues to visit schools within his area of Yorkshire, from the little primary schools in the Yorkshire Dales to the inner-city schools with their often mulish adolescent pupils. At least he can leave school affairs behind him when he goes home each evening to Peewit Cottage and his lovely wife, Christine, who is expecting their first child. That is, until their own village school is threatened with closure and Gervase finds himself on the opposite side of the argument from Christine.

Some things, however, don’t change: Mrs Savage roars, Connie rants, and Gervase’s colleagues in the office play verbal ping-pong. The children he meets in the primary schools continue to steal the limelight, and their contrived innocence never fails to endear.

Gervase Phinn’s fourth book is a delightful, funny roller-coaster of a read.