by H. E. Bates
‘If you come back this way,’ she said, ‘you must let us know what you’d like to do. Anything I can do for you I’ll do it gladly. Anything at all.’
For a moment I thought back on the orchid-house, on Mr. Meredith and on Mr Meredith’s passion.
‘There’s just one thing I’d like to do,’ I said.
‘What is it?’ she said. ‘Just tell me. If it can be done I’ll do it. You only have to say.’
‘Just for fun,’ I said, ‘I’d like to ride the sugar train.’
A Note on the Author
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.
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For copyright reasons, any images not belonging to the original author have been removed from this book. The text has not been changed, and may still contain references to missing images.
First published in Great Britain in 1965 by Michael Joseph Ltd
This electronic edition published in 2015 by Bloomsbury Reader
Copyright © 1965 Evensford Productions Limited
The moral right of the author is asserted.
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eISBN: 9781448215270
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