The Darling Buds of May

byH. E. Bates

Inspiration for the ITV drama The Larkins starring Bradley Walsh

Format:

PaperbackEbook

Buy the book from:

AmazonOpens in a new tabApple BooksOpens in a new tabGoogle PlayOpens in a new tabHiveOpens in a new tabKoboOpens in a new tab
'Home looks nice. Allus does though, don't it? Perfick'

The Larkins - Pop, Ma, Mariette, Zinnia, Petunia, Primrose, Victoria and Montgomery - return home one May evening to 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' and before long the family have introduced the uncomplaining inspector to the delights of country living.

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

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

Time

About H. E. Bates

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, 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). His works have been translated into sixteen languages. H. E. Bates was awarded the C.B.E. in 1973 and died in January 1974.
Details
All editions