A Horseman Riding By Complete Series

This saga of war and family from a New York Times–bestselling author is “sheer, wonderful storytelling” (Chicago Tribune). Spanning six decades, these three novels follow a man and his family as they struggle to adapt to life in a new world. From the death of Queen Victoria through the swinging sixties, this acclaimed saga is an unforgettable story of a farming family and a vanishing way of life. Long Summer Day: Lt. Paul Craddock returns to England after the Boer War to resume civilian life. His father has died, leaving Craddock heir to a scrap-metal business. But instead of continuing the family business, he purchases an auctioned-off thirteen-hundred-acre estate, Shallowford, where he will be changed by his love for two women: fiercely independent Grace Lovell and lovely, demure Claire Derwent. Post of Honour: Through hard work and love of the land, Craddock has transformed his sprawling estate and enjoys a peaceful country life with his wife and three children. But war has begun its inevitable march across England, and this remote corner of Devon cannot escape its destruction. As the Great War ends and another threatens to erupt, Craddock’s faith and the strength he derives from his family must sustain him and his village through trying, tumultuous times. The Green Gauntlet: Though Craddock’s village has endured despite the sorrows of war, he has new perils to face. Emerging property laws threaten his livelihood, dividing his family over the future of his beloved Shallowford. For his sons and daughter, the fifties and sixties will be a time of discovery and change that will resonate in the lives of their own children.

1942-1964 Paul and Claire Craddock have grown older in years - but not in spirit. The turbulence of war is followed by a penurious peace. Changes are taking place in the countryside, from the way land is farmed to the hopes and expectations of the men and women who live there. Paul Craddock's livelihood, his peace, and his vision of a good and noble way of life in Shallowford are all threatened. With the help of his children and his children's children, Paul starts to adapt his dreams in order to preserve the farm. To his surprise and pleasure, in doing so he comes to discover deeper, richer ties with those around him - ties that hold a ripe promise for the future. 'Mr Delderfield's manner is easy, modest, heartwarming' - Evening Standard

Paul Craddock is still a young man when he is invalided out of the Boer War. He throws himself into the daunting task of restoring the neglected and remote country estate of Shallowford, but as the age of Victoria fades, Paul learns that no corner of England can escape the challenge of the times.

A rural English family endures as the Great War ends—and more storm clouds loom—in this saga from the New York Times–bestselling author of the Avenue novels. Through hard work and love of the land, Boer War vet Paul Craddock has transformed the sprawling West Country estate of Shallowford. With his wife and three children he enjoys a peaceful country life. But war has begun its inevitable march across England, and this remote corner of Devon cannot escape its cruel destruction. Young farmers of the village—barely men when they enlist—are dying in the field or coming home to a way of life that is rapidly disappearing. Yet as the Great War ends and another threatens to erupt, Craddock’s faith and the strength he derives from his family will sustain him and his beloved village through trying, tumultuous times. Filled with vivid imagery and timeless emotion, this is the unforgettable story of a farming family and a vanishing way of life. Post of Honour is the second novel in R. F. Delderfield’s A Horseman Riding By saga, which begins with Long Summer Day and continues with The Green Gauntlet.

Between the wars, the lives of four neighboring English families intersect in this “highly recommended” saga by a New York Times–bestselling author (Sunday Express). In the spring of 1919, his wife’s death brings Sergeant Jim Carver home from the front. He returns to be a single parent to his seven children in a place he has never lived: Number Twenty, Manor Park Avenue, in a South London suburb. The Carvers’ neighbor Eunice Fraser, at Number Twenty-Two, has also known tragedy. Her soldier husband was killed, leaving her and her eight-year-old son, Esme, to fend for themselves. At Number Four, Edith Clegg takes in lodgers and looks after her sister, Becky, whose mind has been shattered by a past trauma. No one knows much about the Friths, at Number Seventeen, who moved to the Avenue before the war. The first book in the two-part historical series the Avenue, which also includes The Avenue Goes to War, The Dreaming Suburb takes readers into the everyday lives of these English families between World War I and World War II, as their hopes, dreams, and struggles are played out against a radically changing world.