Day's End and Other Stories, H. E. Bates's first short story collection published in 1928 when he was just 23, depicts the rural lives of quirky characters cast in his distinctive, beautifully drawn style. Each story has a youthful quality, intimate and often profound, perfectly demonstrating the progression of this masterful wordsmith. Bates explores bittersweet young love in 'The Birthday', the delightful reflections of a man spellbound by the sounds of the sea and the breathing of his new baby in 'The Holiday', and two old friends in 'Fishing', described by David Garnett as a tale that “could hardly be shorter and could hardly be slighter, but it is a complete and perfect little work of art, full of humour and containing a profound reflection on human life." This edition of Day's End and Other Stories, published by Bloomsbury Reader to celebrate H. E. Bates's 110th birthday anniversary, is enhanced with a bonus story – In View of the Fact That – a rare gem previously published in a small pamphlet in 1927, and never reproduced.

Inspired by the gentle beauty of the English landscape, the celebrated writer H.E Bates and the much loved wildlife artist C.F Tunnicliffe produced an enchanting tribute to country life. With the deft, sure eye of master craftsmen, they portray the mellow stone of country towns, spray swept seaside promenades, strolls among sand dunes, Mr. Pimpkins the jobbing gardener, roach fishing at dawn, the art of pear growing, and much more to make a book that is lasting pleasure. Above all, The Happy Countryman was H.E Bates' testament to his own ideals about the countryside and his hopes and fears for its future.

Product Description: The Seasons and the Gardener was first published in 1940 as one in a series of Cambridge children's books related to the natural world. H. E. Bates provides a beautifully written account of the British garden in its interaction with the seasons...read more

Product Description: 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...read more

Product Description: H.E. Bates's evocation of a year in the life of an English woodland has been reprinted to make a suitable gift for gardeners and nature lovers. Bates has an eye for every detail describing the sights and sounds of the countryside and the endless variety of plants and animals as each emerges in turn with the changing seasons...read more

Tells a tale of love and longing, set against the backdrop of 1920s decadence, and the fall of the English upper classes.

Product Description: The horror and the humanity of war come too close, when a little fishing boat, the Breadwinner, rescues a pilot shot down in the Channel during a dogfight. The only trouble is, the pilot is German. As the young fisherman tends his wounds, he comes to realize that war is not exciting, and the enemy before him is just a young boy like himself - indistinguishable from the once glamorous English pilot who soon also crashes near the boat...read more

During World War II, a small English community are forced to flee when Japanese forces invade Burma. Paterson, the manager of a rice-mill, organises the evacuation and takes with him his Burmese mistress and her young brother. Inevitably, as the journey continues, bitterness, tension and insoluble conflict unfold.

Product Description: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work...read more

This play version of the H.E. Bates novel centres on the Larkin family, who live in Kent 'somewhere at the end of a rainbow'. When an ernest young tax official turns up one hot May afternoon in 1957 to investigate Pop's income tax contributions, he is bewitched by eldest daughter Mariette.

Just as Bella believes that the love of the Wainwright family has healed her broken heart, the lover who jilted her reenters her life.

Product Description: 'A master of his craft and in a class of his own.' - DAILY TELEGRAPH. 'One of the most evocative of writers.' - LISTENER. This is a collection of short stories from the author of the THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY. In the title story the light-hearted comedy of his Uncle Silas sketches is given full play...read more

Seventeen stories deal with a middle-aged romance, a child's pain, a man living in the past, pilots during World War II, and an absent-minded old man

Product Description: Set on a small Greek island, this book follows the adventures of an Englishman. Travelling alone, he meets a girl, Ruth Forbes, and her older travelling companion, Mrs Keller. It soon strikes him that their relationship is sinister - Ruth is held by some kind of emotional bondage...read more

Product Description: By the author of the recent popular television series THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY. This is a story of two sisters who are both in love with the same man, and the author makes a poem, a dream, of his tale. The setting becomes vaguely real, and Jenny and Tessa and their incredible father live in the mind as people whose names sharpen the attention to the remembrance of poignant things...read more

Product Description: ‘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...read more