Farm Life Fiction

Jim May grew up in the 1950's, among farm people who had lived along Illinois's Nippersink Creek for generations. Stories told around the kitchen tables, front porches, and horse-trading barns brought laughs, inspired love, and helped ease the sometimes tragic turn of life's events. Speaking in the familiar voice of a longtime neighbor, May shares humorous and affecting events, as well as his Chicago Emmy Award winning tribute to his father, "A Bell for Shorty".

On a crisp fall day, Mem and Grandpa go to Josie's Farm Stand, where they find vegetables, flowers, and a furry friend.

A girl helps her papa harvest grain on their wheat farm in Montana. She drives in the combine, and learns that wheat is made up of kernels and chaff.

Grandpa drives a milk truck. For the first time, he takes his grandson along to the farms to collect the milk, and the plant where the milk is bottled and made into ice cream.

As the war rages on in Europe, it brings untold heartache to the Talbot family at Blackberry Farm. First Tom is missing in action and then his brother John. leaving the family distraught with worry. Faith finds herself in trouble and turns to Lizzie for support as fear and grief bring them closer together. But tragedy is never too far away and when it strikes, it may not be those who fight that suffer most. Will Pam’s prayers be answered and will both her sons return home?

Cassie spends her days watching Grandfather and Caleb in the barn, looking out at Papa working the fields, spying on Sarah feeding the goslings. She's an observer, a writer, a storyteller. Everything is as it should be.

Max visits his grandparents at the farm. He invites his friend Don. What will Max and Don do at the farm?

While the lingering summer days cast their warm embrace, life at the Blackwood Estate marches forward. The newly constructed winery promises to usher further prosperity onto the farm as Asher and his companions embark on the art of crafting their first wines. Yet, amid the promise of new beginnings and budding relationships, an air of the peculiar descends upon the serene landscape. Episodes of missing time and inexplicable wanderings disrupt the idyllic routine of those who call this unusual farm home.

Tilly is overjoyed when an estranged relative comes to Heritage Cove wanting to make amends. But as she lets him in to her life and Tilly’s Bits ‘n’ Pieces—the shop she owns and loves—her friends aren’t so sure whether everything is quite as it seems. Benjamin’s parents run Mistletoe Gate Farm, selling Christmas trees, wreaths and mistletoe. Benjamin and Tilly have been falling for one another since the summer but will family complications put an abrupt stop to what is looking like a burgeoning romance?

More than anything else - even more than the best birthday party ever - Becket Branch wants a dog for her 10th birthday. But her twin brother, Nicholas, has secretly been wishing for a cat. Lucky for Becket and Nicholas, their animal-loving parents have an animal-loving surprise for them: They’re going to the local shelter and adopting both a cat and a dog.

Kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk! Sal and her mother are picking blueberries to can for the winter. But when Sal wanders to the other side of Blueberry Hill, she discovers a mama bear preparing for her own long winter. Meanwhile Sal's mother is being followed by a small bear with a big appetite for berries! Will each mother go home with the right little one?

As summer descends upon the Blackwood estate, peculiar occurrences cast an eerie shadow over the once peaceful land. Mysterious lights flicker amid the dense woods, leaving an unsettling feeling in the air. Amid the oddness, Asher finds himself consumed by overseeing the estate's expansion, managing crops, and constructing new buildings. With little time for anything else, he tries to push aside the unsettling events taking place in the nearby forests.

Cambridgeshire – 1942. As a new year begins and the war continues, young Artie Talbot feels trapped. In his heart he longs to fight, like his two brothers, for his king and country but is duty tied to Blackberry Farm. As feelings grow between Artie and Jeanie Salmons, Artie wonders if marriage will help him to finally accept his lot and settle down. Meanwhile, his brother John Talbot must come to terms with the tragic loss of a lost love. Can he overcome his trauma and begin to build a new life for himself and his new born son?

Lucia has worked hard as a lawyer in Wales, aiming for a big promotion she hopes will shortly come her way. Finally taking a well-earned break at her grandparents' house in southern Italy, the sunshine, lemon trees and her nonna's mouth-watering cooking make her instantly feel at home. But she's shocked to learn that her grandfather is retiring from the beloved family pizzeria and will need to sell. Lucia can't bear the thought of the place changing hands - especially when she discovers her not-quite-ex-husband, Giacomo, wants to take it over!

Enjoy this collection of stories for children about life on the farm. In "Hector Helps Out", Calliope the hen enlists the help of Hector the rooster in an effort to retain her egg. They work to pull a fast one on Farmer Bean. Also included are nine other stories about animals and living on the farm: "Hatch!", "Fresh from the Farm", "Grandpa Drives a Milk Truck", "Mem and Grandpa at the Farm Stand", "Diggory Dog", "Fleece Fiber, Yarn Sweater", "Harvest Time with Papa", "Herbert, Hurry Up", and "A Rootin' Tootin' Cowboy".

Cambridgeshire - March 1939. As the clouds of war begin to gather in Europe, the Talbot family of rural Blackberry Farm will be torn apart, just as so many families all over the world will be. Life will never be the same again. Whilst in London, the Salmons family will feel the pain of parting and loss. Brought together by war, the two families become intertwined and, as the outlook looks bleak, they must draw on each other’s strength to fight through the hard times.

The title story tells of a typical Christmas at the farm before the coming of Flora Poste. It is a parody of the worst sort of family Christmas: Adam Lambsbreath dresses up as Father Christmas in two of Judith's red shawls. There are unsuitable presents, unpleasant insertions into the pudding and Aunt Ada Doom orders Amos to carve the turkey, adding: 'Ay, would it were a vulture, 'twere more fitting!'

For twelve-year-old Martha "Sonny" Creech, there is no place more beautiful than her family's cotton farm. She, her two brothers, and her parents work hard on their land - hoeing, planting, picking - but only Sonny loves the rich, dark earth the way her father does. When a tragic accident claims his life, her stricken family struggles to fend off ruin - until their rich, reclusive neighbor offers to help finance that year's cotton crop.

The Story of Ferdinand has enchanted readers since it was first published in 1936. All the other bulls would run and jump and butt their heads together. But Ferdinand would rather sit and smell the flowers. And he does just that until the day a bumblebee and some men from the Madrid bullfights give gentle Ferdinand a chance to be the most ferocious star of the corrida - and the most unexpected comic hero.

It's 1950 in rural Minnesota, USA. America is still largely an agrarian society, and most families are farm families. Men are HOH's who keep their farms and their families running smoothly with strong discipline. But farm girls, as well as their mothers, often crave something a little livelier than the day to day boredom of the farm and reach out, now and then, for some fun that runs against the social mores of the times, as well as the family's hard and fast rules.