Author Description

‘The Distant Horns of Summer’ was H. E. Bates’s final novel. In it he explores the imaginary lives of six-year-old James (neglected by his parents, who are constantly off on their travels, and don't seem to care much for their son), and 17 year-old governess Gilly, who gets increasingly drawn into James's fantasy world before the arrival of Alex Ainsworth, dishonest and a womanizer, who has an affair with Gilly and shatters James's world as well as Gilly's. James disappears, but eventually returns with a new governess. It is an intriguing story about reality and imagination, dreams and illusion. It seems fair to suggest it is rather different from the bulk of Bates’s work.