The Green Gauntlet

R. F. Delderfield concludes his bestselling A Horseman Riding By saga of twentieth-century England with a novel that follows the Craddock family through the end of World War II and the challenges of a new era Paul Craddock's village in rural Devon has endured despite the heartbreak and sorrows of war. The landowner and his family have also known their share of loss. But now, as England struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of World War II, he and his wife, Claire, and their children confront new perils. With his livelihood threatened by emerging property laws and his family divided over the future of his beloved Shallowford estate, Craddock struggles to preserve his legacy. 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. The final novel in Delderfield's magnificent trilogy pays tribute to the courage and unflagging optimism of British villagers trying to keep step with modern times even as they cling to the traditions of a bygone world. The Green Gauntlet is the third novel in R. F. Delderfield's saga A Horseman Riding By, which begins with Long Summer Day and continues with Post of Honour. "Sheer, wonderful storytelling." -Chicago Tribune "[Delderfield] built an imposing artistic social history that promises to join those of his great forebears in the long, noble line of the English novel. His narratives belong in a tradition that goes back to John Galsworthy and Arnold Bennett." -Life "Delderfield's manner is easy, modest, heartwarming." -Evening Standard "A born storyteller." -Sunday Mirror R. F. Delderfield (1912-1972) was born in South London. On leaving school he joined the Exmouth Chronicle newspaper as a junior reporter and went on to become editor. He began to write stage plays and then became a highly successful novelist, renowned for brilliantly portraying slices of English life. With the publication of his first saga, A Horseman Riding By, he became one of Britain's most popular authors, and his novels have been bestsellers ever since. Many of his works, including the Horseman Riding By series, To Serve Them All My Days, the Avenue novels, and Diana, were adapted for television.