A. G. Street - Böcker

Farmer's Glory was first published in 1932. It was A. G. Street's first book and remains his most famous. In his own modest words 'This book is simply an attempt to give a pen picture of farming life in Southern England and Western Canada.' It succeeds memorably.Compton Mackenzie, reviewing it in the Daily Mail, wrote, 'Let me recommend it to the general public as a model of unpretentious English, an enthralling picture of rural life on both sides of the Atlantic, a manual of deadly common sense, and a thing of beauty. It will go on the shelf of my library with Cobbett's Rural Rides and White's Natural History of Selborne'. The comment about 'unpretentious English' is interesting. So exemplary was it considered to be in that respect, Cambridge University selected it as one of its set books for what was then School Certificate. His daughter, Pamela Street, marvelled at that, remembering he left school at the age of fifteen.'A classic within that special genre of country-writing ... a wealth of fine detail and anecdote ... the author's voice and personality come through with an undimmed vividness - shrewd, dogged, humorous and charged with the warmth of humanity.' Desmond Hawkins, Country Life

The Gentleman of the Party was first published in 1936 and was described by Douglas West in the Daily Mail as a 'robust and impressive novel'. A vivid portrayal of farming life in Wiltshire from 1872 to the 1930s, The Gentleman of the Party is filled with gentle humour and poignant images as it charts the history of the changing face of English farming over 60 years. Exploring the strict social structures and absolute hierarchy that existed in rural England, as well as the harsh life experienced by the farm labourers, The Gentleman of the Party is a fictional account of a forgotten and often shocking time in English history. '[You] are not likely to read a better chronicle of the land in a month of Sundays.' Cecil Day-Lewis, Daily Telegraph'This robust and impressive novel ... will enlarge the mental horizon of a good many town dwellers, and give the more reflecting among them a great deal to think about ... His command of dialect is masterly. He has written a fine novel and he has created a number of richly entertaining people.' Douglas West, Daily Mail

First published by Faber & Faber in 1940 A Crook in the Furrow was described by the Manchester Evening News as 'like no other detective story. Mr Street's plots and stratagems, his devices are well up to the most exacting professional standards. As a background for it there is Mr Street's great love and knowledge of the English countryside'. Detective Inspector 'Coincidence' Charles Jenks has been investigating a hunch that Dr Larne of 223 Harley Street has been committing crimes. What these crimes are, however, he isn't sure, but Dr Larne's name has occurred too frequently in reference accounts of suspicious circumstances for 'Coincidence' Charles to think that he is perfectly innocent. As ever, 'Coincidence' Charles is right. Dr Larne has been supplying drugs using his Harley Street practice and two unknown accomplices, Peggy and Frank Young. Believing that 'Coincidence' Charles is onto their scheme, Larne persuades the couple to move to the country and set up as 'honest' farmers in order to continue their growing business away from the prying eyes of 'Coincidence' Charles. Can Charles discover what is really going on or will the country straighten them out, after all, 'Wiltshire won't have crooks in her furrows'.

'No one who cares at all about England can afford to miss reading Already Walks Tomorrow.' Sunday Times'It must have been a most satisfying book to write. A. G. Street's love of the country is so strong that he could not fail to inspire sympathy in a ticket-inspector in Piccadilly Underground; his sense of drama involves us in a love affair almost as deeply as if we ourselves were concerned.' New Chronicle'His new long novel pleased me exceedingly. I can only hope that the book will be as widely discussed as it deserves.' Western Mail

' "Strawberry Roan", the title-part of the story, is a splendid heifer, round whose career, from her calfhood, through her various changes of ownership to her achievement of renown as a champion milker and her final return to the little farmer who bred her, are woven the fortunes of a crowd of Wiltshire folk and the troubles of the land. All are life-like people; and the rustics are stamped with the true country mark. The book abounds in vivid sketches of the life of the farm, of sport and play, of the humours of the village street and the market town, all bearing the mark of first-hand knowledge.' Times Literary SupplementStrawberry Roan, like A. G. Street's other works, concerns life in the countryside and has at its heart Strawberry Roan, a cow that belongs to Mr Dibben, the local baker and grocer in Coombe Wallop in Wiltshire. Like Black Beauty before her Strawberry Roan's life from birth to old age is chartered and Street's rural writing brings alive the ways of the country and the troubles that were faced. First published in 1932 Strawberry Roan is a faithful chronicle of the rustic ways of the countryside.

The seemingly endless furrows ploughed by the author himself on his farm in Wiltshire provide the inspiration for this book, first published in 1934. The Endless Furrow chronicles the traditional life of the rural community while offering the fictional depiction of a 'townsman's' ambition to farm his own land. The simple joy he feels when he achieves this is conveyed in the pleasure he takes from surveying his fields.