What do you think?
Rate this book
Tallentire Trilogy #1
The Hired Man
Set in Cumbria and covering the period from 1889 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.
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1969
9 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Melvyn Bragg
136 books142 followersMelvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, FRSL, FRTS (born 6 October 1939) is an English author, broadcaster and media personality who, aside from his many literary endeavours, is perhaps most recognised for his work on The South Bank Show.
Bragg is a prolific novelist and writer of non-fiction, and has written a number of television and film screenplays. Some of his early television work was in collaboration with Ken Russell, for whom he wrote the biographical dramas The Debussy Film (1965) and Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1967), as well as Russell's film about Tchaikovsky, The Music Lovers (1970). He is president of the National Academy of Writing. His 2008 novel, Remember Me is a largely autobiographical story.
He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library, a charity set up to provide funding support to the British Library.
Bragg is a prolific novelist and writer of non-fiction, and has written a number of television and film screenplays. Some of his early television work was in collaboration with Ken Russell, for whom he wrote the biographical dramas The Debussy Film (1965) and Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1967), as well as Russell's film about Tchaikovsky, The Music Lovers (1970). He is president of the National Academy of Writing. His 2008 novel, Remember Me is a largely autobiographical story.
He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library, a charity set up to provide funding support to the British Library.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 15, 2023
Realistic? Yes, but also terribly depressing. Both the story and the come to a end! How you look upon life is, at least to some extent, a choice!
It is so very, very clear that Melvyn Brag is a contemporary author. Authors too are molded by their times. Bragg’s women are free spirited and independent. “Good men” are and must be loving fathers. The two sexes must be drawn equally! Of course I support such principles, but I don’t want a story drenched in them. I don’t need to be taught this. The book is too politically correct!
A touch of humor wouldn’t have hurt.
It irritates me that to get a full story, the entire series must be read. The plot does not end with a cliff-hanger, but the story is not complete. You know exactly where it is leading. You know exactly who will become the hero. I am betting my bottom dollar this will be ! I prefer one big thick novel that holds together, that has a start, middle and satisfying end.
Although the story focuses upon the difficulties of the poor and social injustices at the turn of the 20th century in England, both the message conveyed and the manner by which the story is told reek of contemporary sensibilities. For me, this results in a dissonant clash.
The audiobook I listened to is well narrated. I feel it is important to distinguish between an author and the audiobook’s narrator; each have separate pluses and minuses. I have given the narration by Malcolm Sinclair four stars. At the start, he overdramatizes, but then he calms down. Every word is easily heard.
Nope, I prefer the author’s nonfiction over his fiction.
*********************
*Back in the Day: A Memoir 4 stars
The Tallentire Trilogy
*The Hired Man 2 stars
*A Place in England maybe
*Kingdom Come maybe
It is so very, very clear that Melvyn Brag is a contemporary author. Authors too are molded by their times. Bragg’s women are free spirited and independent. “Good men” are and must be loving fathers. The two sexes must be drawn equally! Of course I support such principles, but I don’t want a story drenched in them. I don’t need to be taught this. The book is too politically correct!
A touch of humor wouldn’t have hurt.
It irritates me that to get a full story, the entire series must be read. The plot does not end with a cliff-hanger, but the story is not complete. You know exactly where it is leading. You know exactly who will become the hero. I am betting my bottom dollar this will be ! I prefer one big thick novel that holds together, that has a start, middle and satisfying end.
Although the story focuses upon the difficulties of the poor and social injustices at the turn of the 20th century in England, both the message conveyed and the manner by which the story is told reek of contemporary sensibilities. For me, this results in a dissonant clash.
The audiobook I listened to is well narrated. I feel it is important to distinguish between an author and the audiobook’s narrator; each have separate pluses and minuses. I have given the narration by Malcolm Sinclair four stars. At the start, he overdramatizes, but then he calms down. Every word is easily heard.
Nope, I prefer the author’s nonfiction over his fiction.
*********************
*Back in the Day: A Memoir 4 stars
The Tallentire Trilogy
*The Hired Man 2 stars
*A Place in England maybe
*Kingdom Come maybe
March 6, 2014
Can't think of Bragg without the music
The Hired Man: Opening: As he woke, the word 'wife' raced up from the fathoms of his dream and broke the surface of his mind as gently as the moonlight met his eyes.
Although this made a three by the skin of its teeth I am looking forward to the next installment. Sweeping family sagas are like that aren't they.
The Hired Man: Opening: As he woke, the word 'wife' raced up from the fathoms of his dream and broke the surface of his mind as gently as the moonlight met his eyes.
Although this made a three by the skin of its teeth I am looking forward to the next installment. Sweeping family sagas are like that aren't they.
April 25, 2018
A story that can be identified with through the years, giving a glimpse into the lives and loves of a couple in rural England around WWI. Their toils and strains and obstacles along the way resonate strong with all.
October 1, 2020
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.
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.
September 10, 2017
WHAT IS IT ABOUT: A hardworking man (John) and his wife (Emily) living through the bleak reality of working class Cumbrian life during the early 1900’s. From farm labourer to coal miner, the story follows the entrapping churn of John’s everyday family life.
BITS I ENJOYED: I devoured this book. My list of enjoyable elements include: the wonderfully accurate local dialect, the believable characters and Bragg’s ability to transport you to West Cumbria at the turn of the twentieth century.
If you’ve ever felt Sunday evening gloom then you’ll associate with this book. Bragg takes the sentiment of needing #MondayMotivation to a new level with John, a character who feels desperately frustrated by work but endures it as a means for survival.
As a self-confessed career shifter, there is something modern and familiar about John’s constant quest for something else. We witness him swaying from fulfilment to frustration and depression - his feelings are recognisable, insightful and satisfyingly real.
Near the end of the book there is a section that I highlighted because I loved it: “Want. Yes. I’ve thought on that as well. But my Wants come up so fast they throttle me, and then the next minute they’re gone, as if they’d never been.”
Reading this book felt like stepping inside the lives of a working class family simply trying to exist in West Cumbria. Life was bloody hard, money was scarce, work was all-consuming and being a parent was exhausting (and all too often heart-breaking). Eeeeesh. I have a new found respect for the hardy past generations of Cumbrians.
I know I’ve found a good book when I repeatedly stop reading to stare into space and think. This book had me staring into space frequently.
THINGS THAT MADE ME GO HMMMM: There weren’t many hmmm moments. I wasn’t too keen on John’s sister Sarah, I think she was a bit insubstantial and irritating.
MY TEN WORD BOOK REVIEW: Absorbingly insightful. Genuine characters, family life and impressive Cumbrian resilience.
BITS I ENJOYED: I devoured this book. My list of enjoyable elements include: the wonderfully accurate local dialect, the believable characters and Bragg’s ability to transport you to West Cumbria at the turn of the twentieth century.
If you’ve ever felt Sunday evening gloom then you’ll associate with this book. Bragg takes the sentiment of needing #MondayMotivation to a new level with John, a character who feels desperately frustrated by work but endures it as a means for survival.
As a self-confessed career shifter, there is something modern and familiar about John’s constant quest for something else. We witness him swaying from fulfilment to frustration and depression - his feelings are recognisable, insightful and satisfyingly real.
Near the end of the book there is a section that I highlighted because I loved it: “Want. Yes. I’ve thought on that as well. But my Wants come up so fast they throttle me, and then the next minute they’re gone, as if they’d never been.”
Reading this book felt like stepping inside the lives of a working class family simply trying to exist in West Cumbria. Life was bloody hard, money was scarce, work was all-consuming and being a parent was exhausting (and all too often heart-breaking). Eeeeesh. I have a new found respect for the hardy past generations of Cumbrians.
I know I’ve found a good book when I repeatedly stop reading to stare into space and think. This book had me staring into space frequently.
THINGS THAT MADE ME GO HMMMM: There weren’t many hmmm moments. I wasn’t too keen on John’s sister Sarah, I think she was a bit insubstantial and irritating.
MY TEN WORD BOOK REVIEW: Absorbingly insightful. Genuine characters, family life and impressive Cumbrian resilience.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2018
At first I found this book very hard to get into. The narrative perspective is moved at random between characters and the choices that the characters make can be frustrating. However, as I kept reading I came to the realisation that this might be one of the most real pieces of fiction I have ever read. The characters are not perfect. They make mistakes, act like cowards and hurt each other. Yet, life continues and the characters work through their problems much as we must do in real life. As the reader resonates with the characters through their hardship, pain and suffering; joy is found and is graciously given in the resolution, all because of Melvyn Bragg's outstanding abilities as a story teller.
February 26, 2019
I think this is an exceptional piece of writing... I was finding it hard going for a while, not taking to any of the characters. But I began to realise that they were real working class people leading bloody hard lives, and with all of the behavioural defects and mood swings that real people have. By the end I was utterly gripped rooting for them. I finished it in a pretty emotional state, and then spent the afternoon contemplating the insights it had given me on my own life. If you are looking for escapism, or a pleasant read, forget it. If you want gritty realism, or to know what a country labourers life was like pre WW1, you will not find a better book.
May 28, 2020
A portrait of working-class life in Cumbria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following John Tallentire, a farm labourer and later a miner, his wife Emily, and their family. It mixes historical perspective with the inner lives of these characters, exploring what drives them and keeps them going through lives of unremitting toil and challenge.
February 26, 2022
the passage of a magnificent but ordinary i life
I was more moved by this book written 50 years ago than I could imagine - set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the farm labourer and coal mining areas of northern Cumbria - by Melvin Bragg. Read it.
I was more moved by this book written 50 years ago than I could imagine - set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the farm labourer and coal mining areas of northern Cumbria - by Melvin Bragg. Read it.
February 19, 2019
A vivid portrayal of the meagre expectations of ordinary people of their time, and how often even those weren’t realised, and the hardships of their lives
July 21, 2020
What a sad story
May 2, 2018
Melvyn Bragg writes well in this book, and gives a fine evocation of place. It does also have the feel of a Hardy novel. Detailing some serious personal deprivations, it is not immediately an uplifting story, but I am intrigued enough to find and read the sequel sometime.
July 31, 2011
Life was bloody hard in late 19th/early 20th century Cumbria, as this tale relates very well. Leisure was generally a different form of work. Success was surviving to the end o the week with the pittance it was possible to earn. Tied cottages were the norm, making agricultural workers even more dependent on their employers. Mineworkers were just beginning to talk of unions but were still getting no compensation whatsoever for deaths or injuries sustained at work.
This book focuses on one man and his extended family and was written well enough for me to care what happened to them, and weep over their tribulations. Deserves a more detailed read. I ploughed through it in my eagerness to find out what happened to them all!
This book focuses on one man and his extended family and was written well enough for me to care what happened to them, and weep over their tribulations. Deserves a more detailed read. I ploughed through it in my eagerness to find out what happened to them all!
November 11, 2021
The first part of Bragg’s Cumbrian trilogy, this novel follows the life of a farm labourer from the late nineteenth century. The story takes in his marital problems and his disgruntled life as a man for hire and also covers his experiences in the Great War and the post war years when the man forsakes the land to become a coal miner. An excellent trilogy, very well written and full of profound observations.
August 24, 2024
A great depiction of the hard life of English miners and farm workers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It accurately evokes historical details and atmospheres. Although written in 1969, the author has used an existentialist perspective that, coincidentally, was in pick at the time in which the events of the Tallentire family are narrated.
Read
October 7, 20139.2003
October 12, 2015
I really enjoyed this novel. Although it is not the most uplifting story it really gives an insight into the life at the turn of the 20th century.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews