A Turnham Malpas Novel: 11

When the rector, Peter, takes his family to Africa for a year so that he can work in a Mission, the villagers are bereft. They don't immediately take to the locum, Anna, who has rather modern ideas - but she does fill the church with parishioners determined to keep an eye on her. Then she brings a down-and-out petty thief into their midst causing conflict within the community.

Peter keeps in touch regularly by email, and the Women's Institute comes up with the idea of raising funds for his Mission. There's an upmarket pyjama party, midnight skinny dipping and an afternoon's horse racing, with more money than they dreamed of riding on a horse called Major Malpas. Then a message arrives from Peter with the most devastating news - and the villagers are more determined than ever to raise a substantial sum for Peter's Mission.

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