The Darling Buds of May (novel) The Darling Buds of May (novel) The Darling Buds of May is a novella by British writer H. E. Bates, first published in 1958. It was the first of a series of five books about the Larkins, a rural family from Kent. Pop and Ma Larkin and their many children take joy in nature, each other's company, and almost constant feasts. Their only income is through selling scrap, picking strawberries, and selling farm animals or previous purchases that they've tired of. Nevertheless, they joyfully spend money on horses, cars, perfume, fine furniture, and holidays abroad. Pop Larkin opposes taxes and
Harry Bates (author) the old, raw, gloves-off school [including] every cliche of the period," concluding "Hawk Carse was so bad that he was almost good." Everett F. Bleiler characterized the series as "traditional pulp Western stories transplanted into space, with the addition of an Oriental villain in the mode of Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu-Manchu." Ten years later, "Amazing Stories" printed im July the final Hawk Carse novelette, "The Return of Hawk Carse:, written by Bates alone. This story has never been collected or reprinted. Harry Bates wrote the following science fiction short stories: The short story "Farewell to the Master" appears in the