{"id":247388,"date":"2025-05-19T13:58:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/the-darling-buds-of-may-h-e-bates-bookshine-and-readbows\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T13:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:58:20","slug":"the-darling-buds-of-may-h-e-bates-bookshine-and-readbows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388","title":{"rendered":"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Welcome to the ninth of my \u2018Calendar Chaos\u2019 posts, in which I take the books I received in my 2024 book advent \u2013 each cover representing a different period of time \u2013 and review them for you!<\/strong><\/p>\n
Up first in May is MAY and the book is\u00a0The Darling Buds of May<\/em>\u00a0by H.E. Bates.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Read on to find out more\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n
Blurb:<\/em> \u2018Home looks nice. Allus does though, don\u2019t it? Perfick\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
And so the Larkins \u2013 Pop, Ma, Mariette, Zinnia, Petunia, Primrose, Victoria and Montgomery \u2013 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\u2019s inspector of taxes.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n
Mr Charlton is visiting to find out why junk-dealer Pop hasn\u2019t paid his tax \u2013 but nothing\u2019s that simple at the Larkins. Mariette takes a shine to \u2018Charley\u2019 \u2013 as Pop calls him \u2013 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\u2019s Blood, cold cream dribbled over a bowl of strawberries and hot, hot summer nights.<\/em><\/p>\n
In fact, soon Charley can\u2019t see any reason to return to the office at all . . .<\/em><\/p>\n
Review:<\/strong> I was surprised on reading this book that, while some of the attitudes feel very of their time and out-dated by today\u2019s standards, others feel almost ahead of their time in terms of the consumerism and rather relaxed attitudes towards marriage and babies!<\/p>\n
Being a UK 80\u2019s baby, I have naturally known of the TV series starring David Jason and Catherine Zeta Jones as a part of youthful pop culture, but somehow missed actually watching any of it, so I was curious to see what it was all about from the original source. And, despite not having watched it, I heard and saw David Jason every time Pop Larkin appeared on the page.<\/p>\n
The story is short and as light as dandelion fluff \u2013 not a lot happens other than fruit-picking and flirting, as the hazy spring-summer days meander by in a constant state of excess, whether it be food, drink or kissing. On the surface, the Larkins appear to be the bucolic, rural ideal of happy, hedonistic innocents, living life in the moment and declaring everything \u2018Perfick!\u2019 in their little junkyard-cum-smallholding. But there is a sly humour in the deft way the family adults sidestep financial enquiries (how do they afford all those feasts and booze-ups on the tiny amount of work they seem to do?!) and parental responsibilities easily and lightly \u2013 managing to dodge the tax man\u2019s mission while simultaneously ensnaring him in a honey trap of their own.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a Brit of a certain age and want to indulge in a bit of lightly humorous nostalgia for a rural version of Del-Boy\u2019s wheeler-dealering then this is an entertaining little novella for whiling away a sunny afternoon.<\/p>\n
If you are younger and\/or not British, you may find yourself baffled by the lack of plot, character development and what passed for humour in those earlier days. Best taken with a pinch of salt, plenty of spirits and a large English breakfast (for starters!).<\/p>\n
About the author:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Herbert Ernest Bates CBE (16 May 1905 \u2013 29 January 1974) was a British writer known for his gritty, realistic short stories (he wrote more than 25 collections) and novels set predominantly in early- to mid-20th century England. <\/p>\n
\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
His rural upbringing and love of flowers and gardening (on which he wrote two books) informed much of his writing. The semiautobiographical \u201cLove for Lydia\u201d has detailed descriptions of nature in winter, and of the big grounds of Aspen Hall where he meets Lydia. <\/p>\n
His best-known works include Love for Lydia, Fair Stood the Wind for France, The Darling Buds of May, and My Uncle Silas. <\/p>\n
Many of his short stories were adapted for British television in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
Welcome to the ninth of my \u2018Calendar Chaos\u2019 posts, in which I take the books I received in my 2024 book advent \u2013 each cover representing a different period of time \u2013 and review them for you! Up first in May is MAY and the book is\u00a0The Darling Buds of May\u00a0by H.E. Bates. Read on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":247389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[4584,3878,4021,24332,90526,3879],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-247388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-bates","tag-bookshine","tag-buds","tag-darling","tag-h-e","tag-readbows"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to the ninth of my \u2018Calendar Chaos\u2019 posts, in which I take the books I received in my 2024 book advent \u2013 each cover representing a different period of time \u2013 and review them for you! Up first in May is MAY and the book is\u00a0The Darling Buds of May\u00a0by H.E. Bates. Read on […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-19T13:58:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"899\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-19T13:58:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388\"},\"wordCount\":668,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bates\",\"Bookshine\",\"Buds\",\"Darling\",\"H.E\",\"Readbows\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388\",\"name\":\"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-19T13:58:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg\",\"width\":899,\"height\":1200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows - Som2ny Network","og_description":"Welcome to the ninth of my \u2018Calendar Chaos\u2019 posts, in which I take the books I received in my 2024 book advent \u2013 each cover representing a different period of time \u2013 and review them for you! Up first in May is MAY and the book is\u00a0The Darling Buds of May\u00a0by H.E. Bates. Read on […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-05-19T13:58:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":899,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows","datePublished":"2025-05-19T13:58:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388"},"wordCount":668,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg","keywords":["Bates","Bookshine","Buds","Darling","H.E","Readbows"],"articleSection":["Books"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388","name":"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-19T13:58:20+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-book-advent-12b.jpg","width":899,"height":1200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=247388#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Darling Buds of May \u2013 H.E. Bates \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/247389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247388"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=247388"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=247388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/calendar-chaos-banner-1.jpg?w=700\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/2024-book-advent-12c.jpg?w=667\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/darling-buds-of-may-author.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/calendar-chaos-banner-2.jpg?w=700\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"