Customer Reviews
Over Hill and Dale - By: Bookworm, 31 Mar 2008 
I have read all of the five "Dales" books as I am a former teacher turned teaching assistant who worksin a primary schoolin the same area where Gervase Phinn used to work. I feel that I can relate to the stories as I often see & hear the most humorous things that children say & the teaching staff encounter! The books are "unputdownable" & draw the reader straight into the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales. I think that Gervase Phinn has a natural talent for storytelling as these 5 books show. Also if you ever get the chance, do go & see him live, his stage show is brilliant.
Yorkshire Tales to Warm the Heart - By: , 09 Jan 2003 Gervase Phinn writesin the way you imagine most teachers would - with a wry view of the world supported with anecdotes from the classroom. The resultin this case is a tale that I could not put down.
Phinn describes superbly the landscape & attitudes of Yorkshire. If you have lived there & loved it as I have, then so much of this will ring true.
I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who is diconbobulated by the violence & harshness of City living - a true tonic!
Probably better on the radio - By: , 09 Jul 2002 
If you like clichés, one-dimensional characters, unrealistic dialogue, inconsequential stories, saccharin-sweet sentimentality & repetition, then this is the book for you. Alternatively, you can read the book, as I did, during a bout of fever & let Gervase Phinn's aimless meanderings rev up your delirium.
It's a rare author who can achieve what Gervase Phinn has donein creating the characters of his colleagues - men who bicker so tediously the the reader finds himself fast-forwarding to the end of their conversationin the certain knowledge that he will not have missed anything either important or amusing. A previous reviewer notes that the funniest moment, the summit of Phinn's comedic art, was an epidemic of head-lice. That really says it all about the comic achievements of "Over Hill & Dale".
And thoe characters. The men are infantile. The women are either harridans or as wet as Yorkshire puddles. (The exception, a sassy female school inspector, is wheeled on for the sake of a painfully-predictable little pseudo-feminist anecdote & then disappears from view for the rest of the book.) The narrator himself comes across as a naive prig.
I tried reading short passages aloud to myself,in order to understand why "Over Hill & Dale" was so popular when on the radio. And indeed, when you slow the prose down to speaking pace the bombardment of of clichés becomes more tolerable. So,in the desire to conclude on a positive note, let it be recorded that I can not recommend this book too strongly to slow readers.
An honest amusing account of life as a school inspector. - By: svic@btinternet.com, 06 Jan 2002 Being a teacher & having survived the dreaded OFSTED, I was drawn to read about the life of a school inspectorin the hope that it would make them seem more human! Gervase Phinn writes with honesty & warmth abouth his experiences whilst working as an inspectorin North Yorkshire.
At times I was laughing out loud at his tales. Phinn describesin detail the sort of embarrassing incidents that you believe only happen to yourself! I especially loved his account of when he caught head lice & then passed them on to all his colleaguesin the education department!
Phinn details the lessons that he has observed & the words of wisdom that came from the mouths of the children. He shows a genuine interestin the children & is at times moved to tears by their contributions.
This book will be enjoyed by anyone with a sense of humour but especially thosein the education sector!
Wonderful tale of Yorkshire folk, gentle humour. - By: , 11 Dec 2001 I loved this book. It is full of witty & well observed incidents. The characters are nicely described & the scenery......well it makes you want to go. These books are similar to the Herriot series.
