A novel set in Cumberland between 1889 and the 1920s and telling the story of one man's struggle to break free from the status of a 'hired man'. The first part of the CUMBRIAN TRILOGY.
The Hired Man (Tallentire Trilogy 1)
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'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 alternate Paperback edition.
'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 alternate Paperback edition.
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 alternate
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Philip Spires
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format: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.... Read more ›
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.... Read more ›
By OC
Format:Paperback
Set in Cumberland at the turn of the century this is the story of John Tallentire, and his struggle to escape the lowly status of being a labourer, or a "Hired Man". this book was powerful stuff which in the current economy doesn't seem at all far fetched.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this after seeing the musical version, which I enjoyed immensely, with its emotion and character and beauty. Sadly, the original novel contains these qualities only in spates, and is generally pretty boring and monotonous.
The characters themselves are hard to care about, as apart from John they have little depth and seem to merely represent characteristics Bragg wants to get across. The idea that Jackson is suddenly in love with Emily after a couple of uneventful visits to her house is absurd, as is the development that she two years later is suddenly in love with him when he returns from war. This is just one example of the shallow characterisation, leading to a lack of believability and thus a lack of empathy from the reader.
The book probably works best as an insight into late 19th century life for the rural working classes; I'm no expert on the period, but it seems well researched and certainly comes across as genuine. Sadly, this aspect of the writing style is its pinnacle, as otherwise its far too full of 'examination of feelings' type passages which last several pages, and summaries of what the characters are thinking which could easily have been articulated in dialogue and through their actions rather than being so explicitly described at great length at regular intervals.
The plot if also less than compelling, probably because their is never an incentive to turn the page - not a great deal is occurring, and much like the fells that Bragg so lovingly describes, you feel it will all be waiting for you when you go back to it at some indeterminable point in the future. Books with slow plots can be saved by compelling characters or clever dialogue; this work, sadly, contains neither. Not recommended.
The characters themselves are hard to care about, as apart from John they have little depth and seem to merely represent characteristics Bragg wants to get across. The idea that Jackson is suddenly in love with Emily after a couple of uneventful visits to her house is absurd, as is the development that she two years later is suddenly in love with him when he returns from war. This is just one example of the shallow characterisation, leading to a lack of believability and thus a lack of empathy from the reader.
The book probably works best as an insight into late 19th century life for the rural working classes; I'm no expert on the period, but it seems well researched and certainly comes across as genuine. Sadly, this aspect of the writing style is its pinnacle, as otherwise its far too full of 'examination of feelings' type passages which last several pages, and summaries of what the characters are thinking which could easily have been articulated in dialogue and through their actions rather than being so explicitly described at great length at regular intervals.
The plot if also less than compelling, probably because their is never an incentive to turn the page - not a great deal is occurring, and much like the fells that Bragg so lovingly describes, you feel it will all be waiting for you when you go back to it at some indeterminable point in the future. Books with slow plots can be saved by compelling characters or clever dialogue; this work, sadly, contains neither. Not recommended.
4 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By H. Redshaw
Format:Paperback
a very moving piece of musical theatre, the play is wonderfully written with a twist at the end that is not high budget and does not rely on shocking an audince. I am 18 and even though it is not on the same scale as other modern plays, it is a heart-warming tale of a love triangle that never seems tacky or over played.
I performed in this play and the songs were original, the script simple and beautiful. i suggest that if you can not see this play, get the sound track to give you some idea of the epic nature of this production.
I performed in this play and the songs were original, the script simple and beautiful. i suggest that if you can not see this play, get the sound track to give you some idea of the epic nature of this production.
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