AS SEEN ON BBC'S BETWEEN THE COVERSThirty years after The Darling Buds of May became one of the most popular comedy-dramas in ITV history, H.E. Bates's novel is back in a brand new adaptation starring Bradley Walsh and Joanna Scanlan'The warmth and affection that H. E. Bates has generated through his books is so uplifting' Bradley Walsh________'Home looks nice. Allus does though,...

Take a perfick trip to France in the second book of this much-loved series, inspiration for the ITV drama THE LARKINS starring Bradley Walsh'I should like to go to France,' said Ma.'God Almighty,' Pop said. 'What for?''For a holiday of course,' Ma said. 'I think it would do us all good to get some sun.'And so at the end of a rainy...

Join the Larkins for another adventure in the much-loved series, inspiration for the new ITV drama starring Bradley Walsh'Christening? We never said nothing about no christening, Ma, did we?'And so with the appearance of a letter announcing the imminent arrival of Madame Dupont, Pop and Ma Larkin learn that little Oscar and Blenheim - Charley and Mariette's new boy - are to be christened.In fact, once Mr Ca...

Take a trip to Larkin country in the much-loved series, inspiration for the ITV drama THE LARKINS starring Bradley Walsh'There!' Pop said. 'There's the house. There's Gore Court for you. What about that, eh? How's that strike you? Better than St Paul's, ain't it, better than St Paul's?'And so Pop Larkin - junk-dealer, family man and Dragon's Blood connoisseur - manages to sell the nearby c...

When John Franklin brings his plane down into Occupied France at the height of the Second World war, there are two things in his mind - the safety of his crew and his own badly injured arm. It is a stroke of unbelievable luck when the family of a French farmer risk their lives to offer the airmen protection. During the hot summer weeks that follow, the English officer and the daughter of the house are drawn inexorably to each other...

Join the Larkins for one last ride in the final instalment of the much-loved series, inspiration for the new ITV drama starring Bradley Walsh'Teetotal!' Ma said. 'It's a libel. He'll never live it down. He'll never be able to hold his head up again. Whatever will people think? What's he going to say when anybody asks him to have one?''No,' said Dr Conner.

'An honest and skillfully told love story' - New York TimesLydia - shy, sheltered, beautiful and just nineteen - glides into Evensford one wintry day, stirring up feeling amongst the town's young men. But it is the young Mr Richardson that she befriends.As winter turns to drowsy summer, his world becomes a wondrous place, full only of Lydia; but a change comes over the once retiring girl as she discovers the effect she has on other...

The Nature of Love (Michael Joseph, 1953) was Bates's first published collection of novellas.It contains three stories, different in weight but similar in texture, drawing from rural landscapes and the sensitive, poignant studies of the people that bring them to life.Dulcima, dedicated to W. Somerset Maugham, is a tale of a simple girl in rural England whose manipulation of both an old widower and a young forest worker has tragic results. In 1971, EMI Prod...

Published in 1972, The Song of the Wren contains some light entertainments in the style of the Uncle Silas tales, alongside some more serious stories concerning thwarted love, love triangles, and, in two of the cases, the violence that comes out of psyches twisted by love.'The Song of the Wren' features the intriguing Miss Shuttleworth as she spars with a young sociologist conducting a survey on various issues, leaving him dumfounded by her apparently mad behaviour and no ...

At thirty-four, H.E. Bates was deemed too old for active service in WWII. But as a successful author, was commissioned by the nascent RAP Public Relations unit to publicise the bravery of the fighter pilots. Bates was posted to Oakington and Tangmere air bases where, over drinks with the pilots, he gathered their stories and wrote them as Flying Officer X.The stories convey the pilots' personal qualities and the forces that motivated them. They blend the action and suspens...

Bella Ford, aged 19 and inexperienced, is seduced by an older, married man and becomes pregnant. Jilted by her unscrupulous lover, Bella plans revenge and journeys to the place he told her he was from— a lie— and loses the baby during the journey. She is taken in by a family of shoemakers who help her restore her faith in living— until a crisis of extreme tragedy puts her to the highest test.This brooding, suspenseful story of sensuality and vengeance— set amid the fields and villa...

In the final book of the series that began with The Darling Buds of May, the fun-loving Pop Larkin finds himself confined to bed following a mild heart attack − caused by a little too much of what he fancied. Ma battles with the doctors as she attempts to find the adequate cure, but it turns out that a seductive nurse is all he needs. Pa’s spirits truly recover themselves when he is forced to defend his home from the ministry’s railway plans. This concludes the tales of H.E. Bates’s Larkin...