H. E. Bates was born in 1905 in the shoe-making town of Rushden, Northamptonshire, and educated at Kettering Grammar School. After leaving school, he worked as a reporter and as a clerk in a leather warehouse. Many of his stories depict life in the rural Midlands, particularly his native Northamptonshire, where he spent many hours wandering the countryside.

His first novel, The Two Sisters (1926) was published by Jonathan Cape when he was just twenty. Many critically acclaimed novels and collections of short stories followed. During WWII he was commissioned into the RAF solely to write short stories, which were published under the pseudonym 'Flying Officer X'. His first financial success was Fair Stood the Wind for France (1944), followed by two novels about Burma, The Purple Plain (1947) and The Jacaranda Tree (1949) and one set in India, The Scarlet Sword (1950). Other well-known novels include Love for Lydia (1952) and The Feast of July (1954).

His most popular creation was the Larkin family which featured in five novels beginning with The Darling Buds of May in 1958. The later television adaptation was a huge success. Many other stories were adapted for the screen, the most renowned being The Purple Plain (1947) starring Gregory Peck, and The Triple Echo (1970) with Glenda Jackson and Oliver Reed.

H. E. Bates married in 1931, had four children and lived most of his life in a converted granary near Charing in Kent. He was awarded the CBE in 1973, shortly before his death in 1974.

A Note from the Family
Foreword by Lesley Pearse

1 Day's End
2 The Baker's Wife
3 The Birthday
4 The Shepherd
5 The Easter Blessing
6 The Spring Song
7 The Mother
8 Fear
9 The Dove
10 The Flame
11 The Holiday
12 Two Candles
13 The Fuel-Gatherers
14 The Father
15 Gone Away
16 Harvest
17 The Barge
18 The Lesson
19 The Schoolmistress
20 Fishing
21 Never
22 Nina
23 The Voyage
24 The Idiot
25 Blossoms

Bonus Story: In View of the Fact That

A Note on the Author