Inevitably, Cedric, who is turned into a proper Charley by Pop Larkin, learns to "use his loaf" and proposes to Mariette, learns to enjoy life and begins to view the tax office much as any right-thinking person on the planet would. He became well known for his realistic wartime epics under the pen name of 'Flying Officer X', to be followed by others - 'How Sleep the Brave', 'Fair Stood the Wind for France' and 'The Purple Plain', starring Gregory Peck. In the first novella, Pop, Ma, and Mariette Larkin attempt to beguile Cedric Charlton, a timid and naive tax inspector, into abandoning his investigation of their finances. One thing was for certain – the second the Larkin’s got home and saw poor Charley standing there in their yard, he never, ever had a chance. He also wrote his autobiography in three volumes (each delightfully illustrated) which were subsequently published in a one-volume Autobiography.

A 2011 edition of the book by the Folio Society includes a lengthy introduction by journalist Ian Jack (pp. Baldwin also notes a third source for the novels: "scrap metal man who sent his sons to King's Canterbury" when Bates's sons were there. The later two titles are with previous owners ink, with one having an address stamp and the other, a squiggle mark.

There’s also an element of the shifty too, as we never find out what Pop does and where his wads of cash come from! S. Naipaul says "his characters laugh and talk too loudly; and I have seldom seen, outside of a cookery book, so many descriptions of meals per chapter. Ma and Pop Larkin's eldest daughter Mariette, is a naughty temptress, who already pregnant by persons unknown is trying to lure young Charlton 'Charlie' down the path to fleshly wickedness, and he seems unable to resist. Pop and Ma Larkin and their many children take joy in nature, each other's company, and almost constant feasts.

Although Charley can’t quite figure out what Pop Larkin does (he claims to be a farmer) and how he makes his money, any questions he has are soon brushed away in favour of another Dragon’s Blood or bowl of strawberries and cream. The next day he began writing The Darling Buds of May in, as he described it later, ‘a fever of excitement and laughter’.Concerning the series of five novels, Bates closes the final volume in his autobiography ( The World in Ripeness, pp. In spite of having an extensive property to care for, the Larkins spend most of their time harvesting other people's fruit. The Pop Larkin Chronicles: The Darling Buds of May;a Breath of French Air;when the Green Woods Laugh;Oh! The character of Reverend Candy in several of the novels is based on Bates's friend Bernard Harris, a Methodist clergyman who officiated at Bates's wedding in 1931.

the Story of the Larkin Family: The Darling Buds of May; a Breath of French Air; when the Green Woods Laugh; Oh! Minor issues present such as mild cracking, inscriptions, inserts, light foxing, tanning and thumb marking.This is the first volume of the Larkin series with a cast of carefree rustics (maybe they are not really rustics, perhaps they are crooks) who do exactly what they want, get their money (in large quantities) from doing nothing (or worse) and, whatever they do, seem to land on their feet. The Larkins may be little devils when it comes to tax evasion, but they are the kindliest creatures on the planet who'd never force their daughter into a marriage where she'd not be happy with the choice of groom and they couldn't care less about conventions of marriage either.