• Tracy Chevalier is an author and admirer of ringing, an American expat living in London.
• Tracy writes historical fiction: we briefly touch on writing and researching Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Last Runaway,  and Remarkable Creatures (and glance briefly at The Virgin Blue and The Lady and The Unicorn) before delving into the meat of the episode: her novel A Single Thread. (Find Tracy's books at her site or wherever you get books.)
• Tracy commends both Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village and  The Nine Tailors to your attention; I still say read Tracy first!

Thank you, friends. (Especially those of you who recommended Tracy to me during a dinner in Northampton--you've enriched my life unimaginably!)