Farmer's Glory

Farmer's Glory was first published in 1932. It was A. G. Street's first book and remains his most famous. In his own modest words 'This book is simply an attempt to give a pen picture of farming life in Southern England and Western Canada.' It succeeds memorably. Compton Mackenzie, reviewing it in the Daily Mail, wrote, 'Let me recommend it to the general public as a model of unpretentious English, an enthralling picture of rural life on both sides of the Atlantic, a manual of deadly common sense, and a thing of beauty. It will go on the shelf of my library with Cobbett's Rural Rides and White's Natural History of Selborne'. The comment about 'unpretentious English' is interesting. So exemplary was it considered to be in that respect, Cambridge University selected it as one of its set books for what was then School Certificate. His daughter, Pamela Street, marvelled at that, remembering he left school at the age of fifteen. 'A classic within that special genre of country-writing ... a wealth of fine detail and anecdote ... the author's voice and personality come through with an undimmed vividness - shrewd, dogged, humorous and charged with the warmth of humanity.' Desmond Hawkins, Country Life