H.E. Bates – författare

Heroic and moving accounts of the R.A.F. in war time by the author of Fair Stood the Wind for France and The Darling Buds of May'After 60 years of writing and reading, I would place H.E. Bates as one of the best short-story writers of my time' Graham GreeneFirst published under the pseudonym of Flying Officer X, H. E. Bates’s stories of the heroic exploits of British bomber crews during the Second World War created a sensation when they appeared in 1942, selling over two million copies all over the world. Bates lived among the painfully young pilots and recorded their lives, and those of their loved ones, with an emotional attention that deeply moved the generation that lived through the war, and an intensity that reverberates down the decades.

Lydia Aspen, a seemingly shy girl from a wealthy but isolated background, is encouraged by her aunts, her new carers, to discover the delights of growing up. They entrust her education to Mr Richardson, the young apprentice for Evenford's local newspaper, who is sent to their house to 'get a story' about the recent death of Lydia's father. Richardson's access to the Aspens is unusual, as they are rarely seen by anyone from the town and hide behind their stone walls and perimeter of trees; introducing Lydia to the town's inhabitants gives Richardson a great sense of pride. Visiting the Aspen estate also allows Richardson the chance to escape from the great engulfing vacuum of Evensford, with it's endless stretch of factory roofs and back alleys. As Lydia and Richardson spend more time together, he realises that his initial concept of Lydia was wrong, that she is far from being shy and is often impetuous and demanding, and enjoys captivating the young men who become her companions. Richardson soon discovers that his promise to love her, no matter what she does to him, is going to push him beyond the pain and feelings he thinks he is capable of experiencing.One of Bates' best-loved and most enduring books, "Love for Lydia" is an extraordinary tale of love and longing, set against the backdrop of 1920s decadence, and the fall of the English upper classes.

Day’s End and Other Stories, H. E. Bates’s first short story collection published in 1928 when he was just 23, depicts the rural lives of quirky characters cast in his distinctive, beautifully drawn style.Each story has a youthful quality, intimate and often profound, perfectly demonstrating the progression of this masterful wordsmith. Bates explores bittersweet young love in ‘The Birthday’, the delightful reflections of a man spellbound by the sounds of the sea and the breathing of his new baby in ‘The Holiday’, and two old friends in ‘Fishing’, described by David Garnett as a tale that “could hardly be shorter and could hardly be slighter, but it is a complete and perfect little work of art, full of humour and containing a profound reflection on human life."This edition of Day’s End and Other Stories, published by Bloomsbury Reader to celebrate H. E. Bates’s 110th birthday anniversary, is enhanced with a bonus story – In View of the Fact That – a rare gem previously published in a small pamphlet in 1927, and never reproduced.

Stories about children are not always for children. In The Watercress Girl, H. E. Bates masterfully depicts a childhood which, by proxy, reveals the mystifying world of the adult. Through a series of short, lyrical stories, the complexities of the world are seen with crystalline purity through the eyes of children. We experience the joyous and painful clarity of youth, full of fears, hopes and make-believe, and the trust and mistrust of the adult world.A little boy, charmed by the golden-throated Miss Mortenson, witnesses her fall from grace in ‘The Pemberton Thrush’. Three children become entangled in a forbidden love when they witness a man attempting suicide in ‘A Great Day for Bonzo’, and a father reveals more of his past than he intends to in ‘The Far Distant Journey’. First published in 1959, The Watercress Girl is a rich collection of stories, exploring a world full of wonder but also of unease; an unease of not yet understanding the world or being fully part of it.