I have recently been watching repeats of the TV series with David Jason and Catherine Zeta Jones, and wondered why I have never read the books. Just like tax inspector Cedric Charlton, you’ll find yourself drawn into the orbit of Pop and Ma Larkin and their six children – indomitably cheery hedonists, the lot of them.

the Story of the Larkin Family: The Darling Buds of May; a Breath of French Air; when the Green Woods Laugh; Oh! It’s the kind of novella you can polish off in a sitting or two, and The Novel Cure prescribes it as a tonic for cynicism. I have read lot of his books over number of years and this classic series it has not aged like other books of its type it's the sort of P. 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. Which is why this book gets a "perfick" rating with all the stars available in the Goodreads universe.I don't remember why I put this book on hold and was a little confused when I picked it up from the library. If there's a political message here then (and I understand that debate on that point rages in some circles) then it's one of iconoclasm and individualism and that's something I can wholly get behind. The title of the book is a quote from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Each title has some slight separation at the spine tips, with some additional crumpling and creasing on the later two titles. An afternoon of delicious golden content folded its transparent envelope more and more softly about the paradisiacal Larkin world, over the outlying meadow scintillating with its million buttercups and the shady fragrant walnut tree.

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.Pop Larkin claims to have no income from his 35 acre farm - yet he is able to provide the best food and drink for his large family.