H. E. Bates was an English writer known for works including Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, and My Uncle Silas.

Born in 1905 in Northamptonshire, he worked as a journalist and clerk on a local newspaper before publishing his first novel, The Two Sisters, when he was twenty. 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 CBE.

H.E. Bates

All nominated books

A Little of What You Fancy