Talk:The Darling Buds of May (novel)

[Untitled]

I read a book that had the three first novellas bound together. Below are plot summaries for the other two. I'm not sure if they merit their own pages or not. Cfitzpatrick3 (talk) 17:00, 12 September 2015 (UTC)

A Breath of French Air In the second novella, the family decides to spend a month in France. This is their first trip abroad and the Larkins fine the food terrible and French women colorless and unattractive. There is some cooling between Charley and Mariette, due to her flirtatious past and the extreme attractiveness of French men. However Charley and Mariette rekindle their romance after he drinks too much, assaults one of her more attentive admirers, and announces that she will accompany him the next day rather than continue to sunbathe. Daughter Primrose (age eleven) is permitted to remain in France with her new boyfriend's family when the Larkins leave at the end of the month.

When the Green Woods Laugh In the final novella, Pop Larkin sells an old country estate that he had intended to tear down for scrap. The buyers are Mr and Mrs Jerebohm from London, who are quite ignorant of country life. At a small dinner party hosted by the Jerebohms, Ma and Pop Larkin encounter Mrs. Perigo, who aggressively pursues Pop Larkin over the next several months. He avoids her, knowing the bad luck suffered by her past conquests. He does however, embrace and pinch the bottom of Mrs Jerebohm, on the pretext of helping her out of a rowboat. Her screams are overheard by Mrs. Perigo, who pressures Mrs. Jerebohm to press charges and then hints to Pop Larkin that she will support him at trial if he will have sex with her. At trial, Pop defends himself. He confuses Mrs. Jerebohn, convincing her that he couldn't have pinched her bottom if he had been holding both her hands, to keep her from falling in the lake. He then calls his uncle to the stand, who reveals that Mrs. Perigo has been known to also go by the name Mrs. George Lancaster, and is an unreliable witness. Charges are dropped, and the Larkins build a new swimming pool. They joke that, "If you are going to be raped, you might as well relax and enjoy it while you can."