‘Oh, Tom.’ There were tears in her eyes. The shadows of the past had flown. The old world was behind her now and it was time for starting over.

He held her close. ‘So, Lily … will you marry me?’

Lily looked up at Tom and saw there was no weakness in this man … only love.

She smiled and said simply, ‘I will.’

And in a heartbeat her new life began.

About the Author

Jack Sheffield grew up in the tough environment of Gipton Estate, in north-east Leeds. After a job as a ‘pitch boy’, repairing roofs, he became a Corona pop man before going to St John’s College, York, and training to be a teacher. In the late seventies and eighties, he was a headteacher of two schools in North Yorkshire before becoming Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds. It was at this time he began to record his many amusing stories of village life as portrayed in Teacher, Teacher!, Mister Teacher, Dear Teacher, Village Teacher, Please Sir!, Educating Jack, School’s Out!, Silent Night, Star Teacher and Happiest Days.

Starting Over is his eleventh novel in the Teacher series and continues the story of life in the fictional village of Ragley-on-the-Forest.

In 2017 Jack was awarded the honorary title of Cultural Fellow of York St John University. He lives with his wife in Buckinghamshire.

Order Jack Sheffield’s latest novel now …

CHANGING TIMES

For the residents of the small Yorkshire town the war is finally starting to feel like a distant memory. Gone are the days of rationing and sacrifice, replaced with the joys of spin-dryers and Beatlemania.

But Lily Feather can’t quite forget the events of the war and the years that followed. Buried in her past remains a terrible secret from which she cannot escape but that still threatens her fragile family. After the death of their mother, her brother, Freddie, has come to depend on her and her husband, but their lives will soon change for ever. On the cusp of adulthood, Freddie’s life is simple: all he really has to worry about is school, girls and a spot of rugby. But when he stumbles across his family’s secret past it is his life that is changed forever. A dark history lies between Freddie and the truth and he begins to question how much he’ll have to sacrifice to learn who he truly is.

Available in July 2019

Also by Jack Sheffield

Teacher, Teacher!

Mister Teacher

Dear Teacher

Village Teacher

Please Sir!

Educating Jack

School’s Out!

Silent Night

Star Teacher

Happiest Days