The Hired Man (Coronet Books) [Paperback]

Melvyn Bragg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1979 | Series: Coronet Books

Set in Cumbria and covering the period from 1898 to the early twenties, this is the powerful saga of John Tallentire, first farm labourer, then coal miner, and his wife Emily. John's struggle to break free from the humiliating status of a 'hired man' is the theme of a novel which has been hailed as a classic of its kind - as meticulously detailed as a social document, as evocative as the writings of Hardy and Lawrence.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'An intensely moving, deeply worked book' -- Sunday Telegraph 'It is an extraordinary blend of delicacy and harsh simplicity which makes Melvyn Bragg a remarkable novelist. The perception with which he traces the currents of feeling between John and Emily, the gathering and receding of emotion, have a cumulative power of enormous conviction, a steady hardening of experience which is deeply unsetting and moving' -- The Times 'A magnificently strong and sinewy novel' -- Sunday Mirror --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Melvyn Bragg is the author of sixteen novels including the bestselling Credo and The Maid of Buttermere, and of several works of non-fiction including Speak for England, an oral history of the twentieth century, and Rich, a biography of Richard Burton. He was born in 1939 and educated at Wigton's Nelson Tomlinson School and at Oxford where he read history. He is controller of Arts at LWT and President of the National Campaign for the Arts, and in 1998 he was made a life peer. He lives in London and Cumbria. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Coronet Books; New edition edition (August 1, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034021807X
• ISBN-13: 978-0340218075
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,596,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book, February 18, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hired Man (Coronet Books) (Paperback)

Set in Northern England from c.1880s to the early 1920s, this is a wonderful novel about a rural family--farmers and coal miners--their trials and tribulations. It succeeds so well because of Bragg's writing style: his prose is as hard-chiseled and strong as the people he depicts. He writes with assurance and authority. A joy to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars POIGNANT, April 30, 2005

By 

E. hansen "jasmine" (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hired Man (Coronet Books) (Paperback)

A very poignant story of unsettled life of a farmer/miner and his family. Never able to find the right niche. Never able to really enjoy life even when comfortably lodged and fed with a loving wife and children around him. It is presented beautifully, not a maudling account. I would recommend it highly.

4.0 out of 5 stars Subtle and powerful at the same time, April 9, 2008

By 

Philip Spires "Author of Mission, an African ... (La Nucia, Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hired Man (Tallentire Trilogy 1) (Paperback)

The Hired Hand by Melvyn Bragg is the story of John Tallentire, his wife, Emily, and their families. The novel is set in Cumbria in the north-west of England, starting in the 1890s and following the characters' fortunes until the 1920s.

John Tallentire is the hired man. He is a farm labourer who does as he is asked but is rewarded with mere subsistence. He accepts his lot. But then, in an attempt to improve his life, he becomes a coal miner in pits where the workings stretch out under the sea. The First World War comes, and goes, but not without wreaking its own dose of havoc on the family. John lives through attempts at trade union formation. And there is an accident in the coal mine that traps several miners.

And so John's life unfolds, working its way towards a goal one feels that he never chose. He is a hired man, a seller of labour in a market that, by definition, undervalues what he does. It is his lot to respond to the demands and commands of others. His own preferences, his own motivation must always be kept firmly of secondary importance because, as a hired man, he has no resources to apply to his own ends until he has satisfied the demands of others. And, inevitably, those demands are as great as his willingness to fulfil them. Consequently, the rewards of his labours are never enough to raise his life above satisfying the needs of today.

Emily, his wife, lives a dutiful life alongside him. They marry with their lives ahead of them and Emily makes do, happily, with her lot. The children come - and go, since not all of them survive. Neither do the surviving children seem to have much of a chance of their own to break out of the dependency that is their life. The subtlety of The Hired Man, however, is that this continued dependency is cast in a society that is subject to constant change. It is not tradition, or shackles of rigid social systems that perpetuate poverty. It is the social relationships between different groups that endure, even when social, political and economic structures change.

And it is a life that finally exhausts Emily, leaves her but a ghost of her former self. It has been said that working class life in England was nasty, brutish and short. In the Tallentire's household, there is much dignity, only occasional nastiness and little of the brute. But brevity is always a threat.

Attempts to form unions, attempts thus at creating some stability and security, are described with great effect. It would perhaps seem self-evident that poor people with little security would embrace those who promised improvement. But Melvyn Bragg's portrayal of the process is subtle, and identifies how the workers' very insecurity can be manipulated to convince them to act against their own interests.

There was one aspect of the book that was less than successful. This was the author's attempt to write dialogue in local dialect. Spellings are changed to suggest different intonation and words are invented to capture local usage. Too often, however, this got in the way of meaning, thus detracting from the bigger picture. How to deal with accented English always presents a writer with a dilemma. Conveying local flavour is the goal, but this cannot be achieved if the readability of the text is affected. It is, however, a minor point.

The Hired Man, overall, is a novel about change. The workers' role within that change is insecure throughout. It is not change, itself, that brings about the insecurity, which is the way things are often portrayed. At one point, when the characters consider on whose behalf they are fighting a war, they see clearly that they themselves can never benefit. But neither can they conceive of not fighting. They are hired to do as they are told.