The Darling Buds of May: Inspiration for the ITV drama The Larkins starring Bradley Walsh (The Larkin Family Series, 1)

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The first book was very successful, appearing first in the United States and then in Britain, film rights were sold prior to publication, and Bates also worked on a stage version. He helps with the strawberry picking and the preparations for a gymkhana to be hosted on Pop’s field. In the hands of a satirist the Larkins would have been deliciously lampooned - as uncouth, vulgar new-money they're an easy target. It’s the kind of novella you can polish off in a sitting or two, and The Novel Cure prescribes it as a tonic for cynicism.

They clearly have fun and enjoy life to the full, being involved in many things and engaging their children in the sort of lifestyle that would make most people envious.Plot: Unsuspecting Mr Cedric Charlton, inspector of HM Revenue and Taxes, stumbles unwittingly into the most glorious - and notorious - nest of tax evaders known to gods. I read it for an online book club that I’ve recently just joined and I have to say, it was not what I was expecting at all. We soon discover, Ma and Pop Larkin are unconcerned about late 1950s conventions: a baby is simply a wonderful addition to the Larkin paradise on Earth. Then of course there was his wife Ma Larkin, who it seemed was always at the stove cooking mountains of food, nothing was too much trouble. We are able to observe a love story from the parent's view with a background of rich country living.

It seems that Pop Larkin hasn’t lodged his tax form and Cedric (soon nicknamed ‘Charley’ by the family) is here to sort it out, get the form done and lodged. This is the first volume of the Larkin series with a cast of carefree rustics (maybe they are not really rustics, perhaps they are crooks) who do exactly what they want, get their money (in large quantities) from doing nothing (or worse) and, whatever they do, seem to land on their feet. Sometimes I read a book description and think I will take a chance with a book outside my typical Mormon or Christian romance genre.Instead, it's those people who are concerned with appearances and respectability who are the objects of fun, from the tweed-clad spinster, to the local squire concerned with keeping his tumbling pile to the white-collar office clerk.