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The Song Of The Wren
The Song of the Wren; the Dam; the Man Who Loved Squirrels; the Tiger Moth; Oh! Sweeter Than the Berry Bates, H. E.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
3 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
H.E. Bates
278 books194 followersHerbert Ernest Bates, CBE is widely recognised as one of the finest short story writers of his generation, with more than 20 story collections published in his lifetime. It should not be overlooked, however, that he also wrote some outstanding novels, starting with The Two Sisters through to A Moment in Time, with such works as Love For Lydia, Fair Stood the Wind for France and The Scarlet Sword earning high praise from the critics. His study of the Modern Short Story is considered one of the best ever written on the subject.
He was born in Rushden, Northamptonshire and was educated at Kettering Grammar School. After leaving school, he was briefly a newspaper reporter and a warehouse clerk, but his heart was always in writing and his dream to be able to make a living by his pen.
Many of his stories depict life in the rural Midlands of England, particularly his native Northamptonshire. Bates was partial to taking long midnight walks around the Northamptonshire countryside - and this often provided the inspiration for his stories. Bates was a great lover of the countryside and its people and this is exemplified in two volumes of essays entitled Through the Woods and Down the River.
In 1931, he married Madge Cox, his sweetheart from the next road in his native Rushden. They moved to the village of Little Chart in Kent and bought an old granary and this together with an acre of garden they converted into a home. It was in this phase of his life that he found the inspiration for the Larkins series of novels -The Darling Buds of May, A Breath of French Air, When the Green Woods Laugh, etc. - and the Uncle Silas tales. Not surprisingly, these highly successful novels inspired television series that were immensely popular.
His collection of stories written while serving in the RAF during World War II, best known by the title The Stories of Flying Officer X, but previously published as Something in the Air (a compilation of his two wartime collections under the pseudonym 'Flying Officer X' and titled The Greatest People in the World and How Sleep the Brave), deserve particular attention. By the end of the war he had achieved the rank of Squadron Leader.
Bates was influenced by Chekhov in particular, and his knowledge of the history of the short story is obvious from the famous study he produced on the subject. He also wrote his autobiography in three volumes (each delightfully illustrated) which were subsequently published in a one-volume Autobiography.
Bates was a keen and knowledgeable gardener and wrote numerous books on flowers. The Granary remained their home for the whole of their married life. After the death of H. E Bates, Madge moved to a bungalow, which had originally been a cow byre, next to the Granary. She died in 2004 at age 95. They raised two sons and two daughters.
primarily from Wikipedia, with additions by Keith Farnsworth
He was born in Rushden, Northamptonshire and was educated at Kettering Grammar School. After leaving school, he was briefly a newspaper reporter and a warehouse clerk, but his heart was always in writing and his dream to be able to make a living by his pen.
Many of his stories depict life in the rural Midlands of England, particularly his native Northamptonshire. Bates was partial to taking long midnight walks around the Northamptonshire countryside - and this often provided the inspiration for his stories. Bates was a great lover of the countryside and its people and this is exemplified in two volumes of essays entitled Through the Woods and Down the River.
In 1931, he married Madge Cox, his sweetheart from the next road in his native Rushden. They moved to the village of Little Chart in Kent and bought an old granary and this together with an acre of garden they converted into a home. It was in this phase of his life that he found the inspiration for the Larkins series of novels -The Darling Buds of May, A Breath of French Air, When the Green Woods Laugh, etc. - and the Uncle Silas tales. Not surprisingly, these highly successful novels inspired television series that were immensely popular.
His collection of stories written while serving in the RAF during World War II, best known by the title The Stories of Flying Officer X, but previously published as Something in the Air (a compilation of his two wartime collections under the pseudonym 'Flying Officer X' and titled The Greatest People in the World and How Sleep the Brave), deserve particular attention. By the end of the war he had achieved the rank of Squadron Leader.
Bates was influenced by Chekhov in particular, and his knowledge of the history of the short story is obvious from the famous study he produced on the subject. He also wrote his autobiography in three volumes (each delightfully illustrated) which were subsequently published in a one-volume Autobiography.
Bates was a keen and knowledgeable gardener and wrote numerous books on flowers. The Granary remained their home for the whole of their married life. After the death of H. E Bates, Madge moved to a bungalow, which had originally been a cow byre, next to the Granary. She died in 2004 at age 95. They raised two sons and two daughters.
primarily from Wikipedia, with additions by Keith Farnsworth
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 30, 2026
In my version of this book are five short stories including two that are probably amongst the best I have ever read.
The Dam is brilliant and involves an English man called George Graham who is staying at a hotel in Italy who meets and falls for a German woman who is also a guest at the hotel. They get on very well, but then the lady's daughter arrives and Graham finds himself falling for her too. There's a lot of tension between mother and daughter, heightened by their mutual appreciation of Graham.
One day, Graham drives them both to The Dam of the title, where...something happens. It is a shocking ending, but not as shocking as the one in the story The Man Who Loved Squirrels. Here an uneducated woodcutter is gradually fleeced of his savings by a flirtatious woman who claims to be a poor servant, but is really a heartless married woman. The woodcutter gradually takes more and more of his mother's savings to please the married woman by buying her presents, until the blackmail starts...
There are three other shorter stories that are well written too, but The Dam and The Man Who Loved Squirrels are the best.
The Dam is brilliant and involves an English man called George Graham who is staying at a hotel in Italy who meets and falls for a German woman who is also a guest at the hotel. They get on very well, but then the lady's daughter arrives and Graham finds himself falling for her too. There's a lot of tension between mother and daughter, heightened by their mutual appreciation of Graham.
One day, Graham drives them both to The Dam of the title, where...something happens. It is a shocking ending, but not as shocking as the one in the story The Man Who Loved Squirrels. Here an uneducated woodcutter is gradually fleeced of his savings by a flirtatious woman who claims to be a poor servant, but is really a heartless married woman. The woodcutter gradually takes more and more of his mother's savings to please the married woman by buying her presents, until the blackmail starts...
There are three other shorter stories that are well written too, but The Dam and The Man Who Loved Squirrels are the best.
March 12, 2011
H.E. Bates' stories can be variable in quality but hidden amongst the mediocre ones are some absolute gems. The Song of the Wren contains the beautiful and moving story The Man Who Loved Squirrels in which a lonely woodcutter is befriended by a possessive young woman, and The Dam a story of a young man on holiday who incites the rivalry of a mother and her daughter. The style of Bates' writing is a little dated now but no more than someone like Maugham, say, or Isherwood. These stories are still very poignant and worth taking the time to discover.
January 5, 2022
The first short story was wonderfully told. A solid 8/10. The next story The Dam ended poorly in my view and the third story, The Man Who Loved Squirrels. though well written, had such an awful progression I couldn’t bear to keep reading it. Pushed through to the last two stories, quite good but I was tarnished by the previous endings That I hated, I gave the whole book a poor score. Realise I really like happy endings.
March 30, 2019
This is an entertainingly odd collection of short stories. The quality varies throughout, but stronger tales like 'The Man Who Loves Squirrels' are quite compelling. The female characters are pretty limited, being either promiscuous/deceptive young femme fatales or slightly mad/bitter old spinsters, but they are generally so ridiculous it's more amusing than annoying.
January 10, 2022
The usual excellent fare from this author for the first four of five stories with slightly dark endings. I didn't like the last story.
8/10
8/10
July 11, 2023
rather entertaining in my opinion, found the endings fitting to the stories
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews