The six long stories of A Party for the Girls present H.E. Bates at his finest. A crack shot at understated tragedy, Bates is perhaps at his best with comedy and character––consider the opening line of the title story: “Miss Tompkins, who was seventy-six, bright pink-looking in a bath-salts sort of way and full of an alert but dithering energy, looked out the drawing-room window for the twentieth time since breakfast and found herself growing increasingly excited.” Though virtually unknown here, as Publishers Weekly put it in their review of Bates’s A Month by the Lake & Other...

Tells the story of three very different men who, after their aircraft crashes, are forced to trek across the Burmese wilderness to safety.

H.E. Bates carried a woodland in his imagination. He fell under its spell as a boy growing up in the Midlands, becoming increasingly enchanted each time he stepped below the wooded canopy. Memory magnified its mystery over the years, enriching his stories as he grew successful as a writer.

'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 English August the Larkins - all ten of them, including little Oscar, the family's new addition - bundle into the old Rolls and cross the Channel to escape the hostile elements. But far from being the balmy, sunny and perfick spot Ma Larkin hoped for, France proves less than welcoming to an eccentric English family. The tea's weak, the furniture breakable and the hotel manager is almost as hostile...

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. You ll have to strap him down, Ma said. You ll have to put the handcuffs on. And so after a mild heart-attack caused by rather too much of what you fancy Pop Larkin finds himself off the booze, off the good food and off the good life generally, much to his own and everyone s else s horror and upset. And while Ma tries to find ways around doctor s orders, young Primrose is finding her...

'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 Candy - who will be officiating (much to raven-haired Primrose's delight) - learns that Pop and Ma have neglected the entire Larkin brood, the whole family seems set for a dunking Pop, who needs no excuse to open a few bottles of Dragon's Blood and host the perfick party, rushes out and buys a fun fair to...

'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...

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 crumbling, tumbling country home to city dwellers Mr and Mrs Jerebohm for a pretty bundle of notes. Now he can build his daughter Mariette the pool she s long been nagging him for. But the Larkin s new neighbours aren t quite so accepting of country ways especially Pop s little eccentricities. In fact, it s not long before a wobbly...

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.

Betrayed by her lover, Bella Ford sets out on a journey to find him and exact her revenge. Instead, her search brings her to the home of the Wainwright family. Slowly, the Wainrights restore Bella's trust and she finds happiness. Then, at the traditional Feast of July, the past comes crashing back into Bella's life, and with it, terrible tragedy.