Love for Lydia is set in the small-town English countryside. It's exactly as where the author, H. E. Bates lived. Bates was a prolific (100+) author and this is one of his best received tales. Others include, "The Darling Buds of May" and "My Uncle Silas". To emphasize the importance of these three books; all were made into television series and are available on DVD yet today.
TRUTH ABOUT LOVE FOR LYDIA:
The book is about a teenage girl coming of age and learning of love.
It is not a SEX, SEX, SEX book.
The book follows the life of fictional Richardson (the "I" in the story) and his own search for what love is or means.
The book is not pornographic, unless you consider the one-time mention of dancing in a brassier, or the noticing a breast in the hospital, or the intimations of having made love without spelling out the act. This story is of looking for love, not acting it out.
Truth is, there is abundant kissing. STEAMY?
Alex, Blackie, Tom, as well as Richardson fall in love with Lydia--who can help it?, she's beautiful, fun, and charming. But she started out shy and withdrawn. Skating and dancing breaks down the shyness and life becomes a whirlwind of joyous activity--to excess--even to a life-threatening binge. Loves die and others grow. Who will win Lydia's love, once she discovers what it is for herself? That's what makes the book worth the read. That's what made it into a television series.
The revealing of love's journey in this story is what makes it a reprint decades after the author's 1974 death. The story is timeless, and the location seems sometimes to be describing an American location, instead of the true English scene.
Don't buy this if you are looking for a cheap, hot, romance novel. This is a classic romance. Bates takes young love and passes it through years of exposure. As Lydia asked herself, "Will you love me, even if I'm bad to you?"
OK, so I'm a guy. Ladies, you'll love this book for some of your own reasons, like fantastic descriptions of clothing and settings. Flirtatious dialogue. Romantic male actions (flowers and such). It's so honest and true-to-life, perhaps that's what makes it a can't-put-it-down book.
Love depicted between Lydia and her male associates is nearly as PG-rated as that found involving Mr. Aartemann, in "Mr. Aartemann's Crayon."
