Herbert Ernest Bates

‘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 …

The Darling Buds of May

Fair Stood the Wind for France

Agnes Miller Parker

Down the River

The Japanese come to Burma, and a motley group is forced to flee. From the native girl to the proper British major, the members of the band fight their private battles against a backdrop of war.

The Jacaranda Tree

My Uncle Silas

The Song of the Wren

Betrayed young girl seeks the man responsible.

The Feast of July

The Triple Echo

The Pop Larkin Chronicles

Short comic novel about an unconventional English farmer and his attempts to snare a husband for his daughter.

The Best of H. E. Bates

Combining Bates' three autobiographies, 'The Vanished World', 'The Blossoming World' and 'The World in Ripeness', this volume is a tribute to one of the most prolific and popular of English writers.

Herbert Ernest Bates

About

Books

Join the club