The Darling Buds of May: Inspiration for the ITV drama The Larkins starring Bradley Walsh (The Larkin Family Series, 1) - Softcover

Bates, H. E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141029676 ISBN 13: 9780141029672

Publisher: Penguin, 2006

Synopsis

'Home looks nice. Allus does though, don't it? Perfick'

And so the Larkins - Pop, Ma, Mariette, Zinnia, Petunia, Primrose, Victoria and Montgomery - return from an outing for fish and chips and ice cream one May evening. There, amid the rustic charms of home, they discover a visitor: one Cedric Charlton, Her Majesty's inspector of taxes.

Mr Charlton is visiting to find out why junk-dealer Pop hasn't paid his tax - but nothing's that simple at the Larkins. Mariette takes a shine to 'Charley' - as Pop calls him - and before long the family have introduced the uncomplaining inspector to the delights of country living: the lusty scents of wild flowers, the pleasures of a bottle of Dragon's Blood, cold cream dribbled over a bowl of strawberries and hot, hot summer nights.

In fact, soon Charley can't see any reason to return to the office at all . . .

About this title

Review:

They are absolute comfort books . . . All five titles are being rereleased just in time for summer (The Lady)

Pop is as sexy, genial, generous, and boozy as ever. Ma is a worthy match for him in all these qualities (- The Times)

As funny as Evelyn Waugh and as enchanting as Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie. Don't miss it (- Herald)

Pop Larkin, Ma and their progeny . . . are essentially English of the rich and ribald England of Chaucer and Shakespeare. A superb and timeless comedy (- Scotsman)

A perfick piece of entertainment (- New York Times)

A wistful daydream about innocence and happiness (- Spectator)

A pulsing comedy of country manners. A five-alarm blaze of a book. Just about perfick (- Time)

A gently, anarchic wish-fulfilling daydream (- The Times)

The Larkins live - these novels please us by escaping definition (- Guardian)

About the Author:

H. E. Bates was born in 1905 in Northamptonshire. He worked as a journalist and clerk on a local newspaper before publishing his first book, The Two Sisters, when he was twenty. In the next fifteen years he acquired a distinguished reputation for his stories about English country life. During the Second World War he was a Squadron Leader in the R.A.F. The Darling Buds of May (1958), the first of the popular Larkin family novels, was followed by A Breath of French Air (1959), When the Green Woods Laugh (1960), Oh! To Be in England (1963) and A Little of What You Fancy (1970). His works have been translated into sixteen languages. H. E. Bates was awarded the C.B.E. in 1973 and died in January 1974.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0141029676
• ISBN 13: 9780141029672
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144