A Breath of French Air
  • Published: 30 November 2006
  • ISBN: 9780141938639
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 144
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A Breath of French Air

Inspiration for the ITV drama The Larkins starring Bradley Walsh

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FALL IN LOVE WITH THE LARKINS

'I should like to go to France,' said Ma.

'God Almighty,' Pop said. 'What for?'

'For a holiday of course,' Ma said. 'I think it would do us all good to get some sun.'

And so at the end of a rainy English August the Larkins - all ten of them, including little Oscar, the family's new addition - bundle into the old Rolls and cross the Channel to escape the hostile elements.

But far from being the balmy, sunny and perfick spot Ma Larkin hoped for, France proves less than welcoming to an eccentric English family. The tea's weak, the furniture breakable and the hotel manager is almost as hostile as the wind and the rain they've brought with them! And when the manager learns that Ma and Pop are unmarried yet sharing a room under his roof, the trouble really begins . . .
  • Published: 30 November 2006
  • ISBN: 9780141938639
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 144
Categories:
Share…

About the authors

H.E. Bates

H. E. Bates was born in Northamptonshire in 1905. He published his first novel, The Two Sisters, when he was twenty, and for the next decade built up a reputation as a writer of great versatility. During the Second World War Bates was commissioned by the RAF as a short story writer, where he wrote the acclaimed How Sleep the Brave and The Greatest People in the World. His most popular creation was the effervescent Larkin family about whom he wrote five novels including The Darling Buds of May and A Little of What You Fancy. In 1973 H. E. Bates was awarded the C.B.E. He died in 1974.

Praise for A Breath of French Air

They are absolute comfort books . . . All five titles are being rereleased just in time for summer

The Lady

Pop Larkin, Ma and their progeny ... are essentially English of the rich and ribald England of Chaucer and Shakespeare. A superb and timeless comedy

Scotsman

As funny as Evelyn Waugh and as enchanting as Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie. Don't miss it

Herald

Pop is as sexy, genial, generous, and boozy as ever. Ma is a worthy match for him in all these qualities

The Times

A pulsing comedy of country manners. Just about perfick

Time

Hilarious

New York Times

Very racy, earthy. Rabelaisian

Spectator