The Darling Buds of May

First published in 1958, this comic novel introduces the Larkin family on a chaotic smallholding in Kent: Pop, who deals in scrap and produce and dodges paperwork; Ma; and a houseful of children, especially the eldest daughter Mariette. Cedric Charlton, a young inland revenue clerk, arrives to investigate unpaid taxes and is fed, flattered, and drawn into the household's abundance. Courtship, a possible baby, and Pop's bargains fill the plot. The book is a rural comedy of appetite and officialdom, not a tax guide and not a survey of postwar farming.

Bound in off-white cloth, cover printed with a purple and orange design by Alice Tait. Orange endpapers. Purple slipcase.