The Darling Buds of May: The Pop Larkin Chronicles (Pbs Tie-in) [Paperback]

The novels are set in rural England of the 1950s and centre around Pop and Ma Larkin (actually they're not married, but somehow it just never seems to matter) and their brood of six (make that seven) children. The world in which they live can only be described as a pastoral paradise. Although we get an inkling that the Larkin's farm is, in reality, rather like a junkyard, the novels are a testament to that old saying that life is 90% attitute and 10% circumstance. We see the farm and its surroundings and inhabitants largely through Pop's rose-coloured perspective. As a result, we escape into a world of fragrant golden buttercups and bluebells, into fields of plump, ripe strawberries, and into a kitchen that endlessly emits the heavenly, mouthwatering aromas of Ma's rich, delectable country meals.

Pop is quite a character, and his sunny, carefree disposition and overwhelming generosity, together with his acute focus on the sensory delights of his surroundings, imbue the book with a sense of warmth and beauty that one seldom finds in novels. Pop and Ma take life as they find it and people as they find them, and they never seem to let anything rattle them. Though it's never spelled out, one gets the feeling that life is simply too short a journey to spend it focussing on the bumps one incurs along the way.

I discovered this lovely series through watching the wonderful dramatisation starring David Jason (as Sidney "Pop" Larkin) and Catherine Zeta Jones (as his daughter Mariette), which I also highly recommend. Whether or not you've seen the dramatisation, if you're looking for a cheery, thoroughly relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable read, you'll enjoy this sweet book. In short, it's absolutely "perfick"!

The novels are set in rural England of the 1950s and centre around Pop and Ma Larkin (actually they're not married, but somehow it just never seems to matter) and their brood of six (make that seven) children. The world in which they live can only be described as a pastoral paradise. Although we get an inkling that the Larkin's farm is, in reality, rather like a junkyard, the novels are a testament to that old saying that life is 90% attitute and 10% circumstance. We see the farm and its surroundings and inhabitants largely through Pop's rose-coloured perspective. As a result, we escape into a world of fragrant golden buttercups and bluebells, into fields of plump, ripe strawberries, and into a kitchen that endlessly emits the heavenly, mouthwatering aromas of Ma's rich and flavourful country meals.

Pop is quite a character, and his sunny, carefree disposition and overwhelming generosity, together with his acute focus on the sensory delights of his surroundings, imbue the book with a sense of warmth and beauty that one seldom finds in novels. Pop and Ma (who, by the way, is tremendously overweight) take life as they find it and people as they find them, and they never seem to let anything rattle them. Though it's never spelled out, one gets the feeling that life is simply too short a journey to spend it focussing on the bumps one incurs along the way.

I discovered this lovely series through watching the wonderful dramatisation starring David Jason (as Sidney "Pop" Larkin) and Catherine Zeta Jones (as his daughter Mariette), which I also highly recommend (and which is available, at the time of writing, on video and DVD). Whether or not you've seen the dramatisation, if you're looking for a cheery, thoroughly relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable read, you'll enjoy this sweet book. It's well worth ferretting out a copy. In short, it's absolutely "perfick"!