ONCE A LAND GIRL

Disasters, disappointments, dashed hopes ... Doesn''t seem that easy, just to find a good man, love him and be loved back. But I shan''t give up trying.

The war is over, but life goes on for Land Girls Prue, Stella and Ag. While two of the girls are married, Prue, the incorrigible flirt, has no one and is engaged in a quest for a man to provide her with security and gold taps.

A year after the girls leave Hallows Farm, Prue finds just such a man and a marriage that protects her from the hardships of post-war Manchester. But she still hankers for the life she so loved as a Land Girl, though it''s hard to get work on the sort of farm that provided unimaginable happiness during the war. The lives of her two old friends, Stella and Ag, have moved on and neither visit her. Additionally Prue finds that her newly wedded state and fresh horizons fail to supply the answers she seeks. Yet, in the puzzling world beyond the fields, Prue, in her indomitable way, open as ever to each chance encounter, remains buoyant, optimistic and quite sure that the life she imagines is just round yet another corner.

Praise for Land Girls:

''A first-class writer'' Sunday Telegraph

''Riveting ... evocative and entertaining'' Daily Mail

''Huth''s controlled, eloquent style has been compared to Jane Austen''s, but her talent is entirely original'' The Times

''Piquant, witty and entertaining'' Tatler

''Huth is a master of this sort of novel, steeped in period atmosphere and gentle irony'' Daily Telegraph

''A good story, told with wit and a keen observation of detail'' Times Literary Supplement