Mary Hocking (1921–2014)
Author of Good Daughters
About the Author
Series
Works by Mary Hocking
Associated Works
Ellery Queen's murdercade: 23 stories from Ellery Queen's mystery magazine (Mystery annual ; 29) (1975) — Contributor — 25 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Hocking, Mary
- Birthdate
- 1921-04-08
- Date of death
- 2014-02-17
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Haberdashers' Aske's Girls' School, Acton, England, UK
- Occupations
- novelist
local government official - Organizations
- Women's Royal Naval Service (WWII)
- Short biography
- Mary Hocking was born in Acton, west London, England, and educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls. During World War II, she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENS). After the war, she became a local government officer in the Middlesex Education Department and worked there for many years until the success of her first novel, The Winter City (1961), enabled her to become a full-time writer. Most of her novels are set in contemporary England, although He Who Plays the King (1980) was a historical novel set in the last years of the Wars of the Roses. The popular Fairley family trilogy -- Good Daughters (1984), Indifferent Heroes (1985) and Welcome, Stranger (1988) -- spanned several decades of the 20th century.
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Acton, London, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Lewes, Sussex, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Discussions
Mary Hocking in Virago Modern Classics (April 2016)
Reviews
A gently drawn character study of a group of middle aged people in an English village. The church is a central theme, with trips to Walsingham and Easter Liturgy, and the mild plot is the married vicar's emotional affair with a lonely woman in the congregation.
I found this in a book sale, and was drawn to it, and really enjoyed it. It has a wry eye for people, and also a kindness and a wisdom. It is also full of a love of literature, theatre and the church of England. It is hard not to read show more Hester as an author-insert, the solitary author, resenting those who impinge on her peace and quiet. The descriptions of suddenly falling in unexpected love, of the joy that seems to infuse everything and how you rise up above life's troubles are very well drawn. As is the commitment to a marriage that is far from perfect, but valuable and important.
I found the ending a little too tidy. Although marriage is prized, the mad love between the adulterers is well drawn as a beautiful thing - 'And what if it wasn't a judgement? What if their love was a gift, the last and most precious life would offer her?' 'We have walked and talked and held hands. And kissed too. Kissed and embraced. Nothing more. So little. Why should we be held to account for so little? To live with nothing - it's not possible; it couldn't be borne.' So how does the author resolve this? The other woman nobly and beautifully dies of a brain tumour, smiling at the vicar as she passes away, and the vicar's wife learns and grows as a person who works harder at her marriage.
I loved the way it showed how people view other people's choices through the lens of their own choices.
And I enjoyed all the cast of characters, the gentle snark about pilgrimages and plays, liturgy and dealing with blocked drains and life's other crises.
'Three days they had snatched in County Galway. And each of those days they had looked across the bay to the low green hills of Clare which seemed to belong to an Irish fairy story, a place that beckoned but remained out of reach, for the only bus which went to Clare arrived, for some peculiarly Irish reason, ten minutes after the departure of the only bus which would bring them back. Each day their longing for the hills of Clare had increased. Yet we could have gone, she thought. It was only that we couldn't get back.' show less
I found this in a book sale, and was drawn to it, and really enjoyed it. It has a wry eye for people, and also a kindness and a wisdom. It is also full of a love of literature, theatre and the church of England. It is hard not to read show more Hester as an author-insert, the solitary author, resenting those who impinge on her peace and quiet. The descriptions of suddenly falling in unexpected love, of the joy that seems to infuse everything and how you rise up above life's troubles are very well drawn. As is the commitment to a marriage that is far from perfect, but valuable and important.
I found the ending a little too tidy. Although marriage is prized, the mad love between the adulterers is well drawn as a beautiful thing - 'And what if it wasn't a judgement? What if their love was a gift, the last and most precious life would offer her?' 'We have walked and talked and held hands. And kissed too. Kissed and embraced. Nothing more. So little. Why should we be held to account for so little? To live with nothing - it's not possible; it couldn't be borne.' So how does the author resolve this? The other woman nobly and beautifully dies of a brain tumour, smiling at the vicar as she passes away, and the vicar's wife learns and grows as a person who works harder at her marriage.
I loved the way it showed how people view other people's choices through the lens of their own choices.
And I enjoyed all the cast of characters, the gentle snark about pilgrimages and plays, liturgy and dealing with blocked drains and life's other crises.
'Three days they had snatched in County Galway. And each of those days they had looked across the bay to the low green hills of Clare which seemed to belong to an Irish fairy story, a place that beckoned but remained out of reach, for the only bus which went to Clare arrived, for some peculiarly Irish reason, ten minutes after the departure of the only bus which would bring them back. Each day their longing for the hills of Clare had increased. Yet we could have gone, she thought. It was only that we couldn't get back.' show less
“I shall cherish that part of myself; I shall keep all those impossible desires, those unquenchable thirsts, those longings than can never be satisfied. I shall keep them always. I’ll be a hopeful traveller.”
My second read for Mary Hocking week, but my first read for June was The Hopeful Traveller, a sequel to A Time of War.
The Hopeful Traveller takes place a short time after the end of the Second World War, Kerren, Cath, Robin and Adam each need to adjust to the new world of peacetime show more following the strictures and structures of war time service. Having left the peace of West Country woodland behind and the camaraderie of the hut they shared with their Wren colleagues, Cath and Kerren are now living in London. These early days of peace are far from idyllic, rationing still as strict as during war time, adjustments have to be made in a world of bomb damage, where work and affordable accommodation can be hard to come by. london 1946
Kerren has taken a job as a librarian and Cath is living an easy life in her parent’s home in Holland Park. Life is not all roses in peacetime, Kerren, refusing to touch the money left to her by her husband, is practically starving while living in a horrible room in a noisy street of terraced houses. Meanwhile Robin is living the life in Cheltenham she never wanted, with her baby Terrence and the husband she doesn’t love. Robin had married Clyde for convenience, to avert a scandal – because she couldn’t quite face being unconventional. Her child isn’t her husband’s; Clyde had offered her a way out of a difficult situation. Now Robin snaps at her husband, feels guilty for her irritation – and judges herself to be a poor mother. During a child free visit to see Kerren in London Robin meets Jan a Yugoslav refugee (who reminded me a little of Jacov my favourite character in the Fairly family trilogy). Inevitably Robin embarks on an ill-thought out affair with Jan who is something of a thoughtless cynic.
Mary Hocking does distance herself a little from her characters – this is something I often quite like, it sort of allows me to develop my own relationship with the characters. It is a style similar to that of Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Pym (although I do think all three are quite different as writers). Here, while Kerren is a proud, intelligent dreamer, Robin has become a cool, selfish young woman shielded by a mask of respectability. Adam, a few years their senior feels like the world weary grown up – recovering from his losses and starting again with a new venture.
“Kerren told herself that it was Bach with whom she was concerned. It was Bach about whom she thought as she walked along the streets, watching the green shoots pierce the soil, seeing the green finger tips of trees gently exploring the more temperate air. She began to feel a certain greenness within herself, an inexplicable, restless hope. During the winter she had at times been deeply lonely. She wanted so desperately to communicate; what it was she wanted to communicate she was never quite sure, there was a dancing light that threaded its way in and out of conversations and encounters and eventually eluded her.”
When Kerren finds sanctuary from her room and rumbling stomach in Covent Garden – with a free ticket for Wagner – the last person she expects to run into is Adam. Kerren had begun to develop an attachment to Adam after her husband’s death, before Adam was posted away from her. Now, she feels drawn to him again, but unsure exactly where she stands. Adam never speaks to her of the wife and children he lost, she feels he is keeping a big part of himself hidden from her. Kerren has made one other friend in London; Dilys, who she introduces Cath and Robin to, so when Cath sees Adam in the window of Dilys’s house one day she is a little too quick to draw conclusions. Yet Kerren can’t help but allow Adam to take charge in the midst of her misery and he helps Kerren find a much better place to live.
“She had reached the stage where she no longer cared what happened provided she could be alone with her wretchedness. But Adam must have been very decisive because almost without her realizing how it had happened she found herself walking down the street with him, clutching a hold-all containing nightdress and sponge bag. It was difficult to get a room at this time of night and her tear-blotched face did not help matters. ‘I’ve no doubt that by now the police have my description in several different languages,’ Adam said resignedly when they had been turned away from a dingy boarding house by an indignant Italian woman in a stained floral dressing gown. Eventually a room was found in an expensive Bayswater hotel which had ceased to ask questions with the advent of the first G.I. Adam paid and Kerren experienced all the humiliation of the kept woman without any of the pleasure.”
Adam has entered into a partnership in London, a small publishing house, and Adam introduces Kerren to his business partner’s son John Hughes. John like so many young men after the war is at a loss at what to do now that he is demobilised, he’s considering going to Cambridge to study medicine even though he feels too old to do so. It seems the the war took his best years. John is drawn to Kerren, but soon realises he is wasting his time. In the company of John and Adam Kerren goes on something of a peculiar adventure in Brecon, which sees them unwittingly (and rather naively) getting themselves mixed up in the black market. This peculiar episode heralds a much more frightening and dramatic one, which finally allow Kerren and Adam to come to an understanding.
That dramatic ending to the novel jarred a tiny bit – it’s not a big criticism, overall I really enjoyed The Hopeful Traveller, I had really wanted to know what happened to characters I already got to know so well in A Time of War. show less
My second read for Mary Hocking week, but my first read for June was The Hopeful Traveller, a sequel to A Time of War.
The Hopeful Traveller takes place a short time after the end of the Second World War, Kerren, Cath, Robin and Adam each need to adjust to the new world of peacetime show more following the strictures and structures of war time service. Having left the peace of West Country woodland behind and the camaraderie of the hut they shared with their Wren colleagues, Cath and Kerren are now living in London. These early days of peace are far from idyllic, rationing still as strict as during war time, adjustments have to be made in a world of bomb damage, where work and affordable accommodation can be hard to come by. london 1946
Kerren has taken a job as a librarian and Cath is living an easy life in her parent’s home in Holland Park. Life is not all roses in peacetime, Kerren, refusing to touch the money left to her by her husband, is practically starving while living in a horrible room in a noisy street of terraced houses. Meanwhile Robin is living the life in Cheltenham she never wanted, with her baby Terrence and the husband she doesn’t love. Robin had married Clyde for convenience, to avert a scandal – because she couldn’t quite face being unconventional. Her child isn’t her husband’s; Clyde had offered her a way out of a difficult situation. Now Robin snaps at her husband, feels guilty for her irritation – and judges herself to be a poor mother. During a child free visit to see Kerren in London Robin meets Jan a Yugoslav refugee (who reminded me a little of Jacov my favourite character in the Fairly family trilogy). Inevitably Robin embarks on an ill-thought out affair with Jan who is something of a thoughtless cynic.
Mary Hocking does distance herself a little from her characters – this is something I often quite like, it sort of allows me to develop my own relationship with the characters. It is a style similar to that of Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Pym (although I do think all three are quite different as writers). Here, while Kerren is a proud, intelligent dreamer, Robin has become a cool, selfish young woman shielded by a mask of respectability. Adam, a few years their senior feels like the world weary grown up – recovering from his losses and starting again with a new venture.
“Kerren told herself that it was Bach with whom she was concerned. It was Bach about whom she thought as she walked along the streets, watching the green shoots pierce the soil, seeing the green finger tips of trees gently exploring the more temperate air. She began to feel a certain greenness within herself, an inexplicable, restless hope. During the winter she had at times been deeply lonely. She wanted so desperately to communicate; what it was she wanted to communicate she was never quite sure, there was a dancing light that threaded its way in and out of conversations and encounters and eventually eluded her.”
When Kerren finds sanctuary from her room and rumbling stomach in Covent Garden – with a free ticket for Wagner – the last person she expects to run into is Adam. Kerren had begun to develop an attachment to Adam after her husband’s death, before Adam was posted away from her. Now, she feels drawn to him again, but unsure exactly where she stands. Adam never speaks to her of the wife and children he lost, she feels he is keeping a big part of himself hidden from her. Kerren has made one other friend in London; Dilys, who she introduces Cath and Robin to, so when Cath sees Adam in the window of Dilys’s house one day she is a little too quick to draw conclusions. Yet Kerren can’t help but allow Adam to take charge in the midst of her misery and he helps Kerren find a much better place to live.
“She had reached the stage where she no longer cared what happened provided she could be alone with her wretchedness. But Adam must have been very decisive because almost without her realizing how it had happened she found herself walking down the street with him, clutching a hold-all containing nightdress and sponge bag. It was difficult to get a room at this time of night and her tear-blotched face did not help matters. ‘I’ve no doubt that by now the police have my description in several different languages,’ Adam said resignedly when they had been turned away from a dingy boarding house by an indignant Italian woman in a stained floral dressing gown. Eventually a room was found in an expensive Bayswater hotel which had ceased to ask questions with the advent of the first G.I. Adam paid and Kerren experienced all the humiliation of the kept woman without any of the pleasure.”
Adam has entered into a partnership in London, a small publishing house, and Adam introduces Kerren to his business partner’s son John Hughes. John like so many young men after the war is at a loss at what to do now that he is demobilised, he’s considering going to Cambridge to study medicine even though he feels too old to do so. It seems the the war took his best years. John is drawn to Kerren, but soon realises he is wasting his time. In the company of John and Adam Kerren goes on something of a peculiar adventure in Brecon, which sees them unwittingly (and rather naively) getting themselves mixed up in the black market. This peculiar episode heralds a much more frightening and dramatic one, which finally allow Kerren and Adam to come to an understanding.
That dramatic ending to the novel jarred a tiny bit – it’s not a big criticism, overall I really enjoyed The Hopeful Traveller, I had really wanted to know what happened to characters I already got to know so well in A Time of War. show less
Now we follow the experiences of the Fairley family, the daughters and parents and friends into and through the war.
One of Hocking's gifts is to switch easily and clearly from one mind to another in this close third person narrative, even in the same paragraph there can be a switch and only once or twice have I needed to stop and check. This is because the way each character thinks and perceives the world is sufficiently different to be distinguishable. Louise, the eldest daughter, lives show more through her senses and emotions; Alice tends to stand back and watch; Claire, with the most nervous disposition, tends to either panic or intellectualize - she's the 'smartest' but also the least reliable and most difficult of the three. Hocking doesn't judge at all, but approaches these three women and their differing ways of apprehending and being in the world with such clear eyes and so much compassion without turning sappy. We also follow the parents' experiences, I have become very very attached to Judith, the girls' mother, and will simply say, I am so happy for her capacity for happiness! There is Ben, another of my favorites, who enlists as a soldier and becomes a pow of the Japanese. I can't think what I've read, but I have some vivid memories of scenes from some novel or other about this, and Hocking does an excellent job conveying the isolated hopelessness and futility of it.
An aside, having read Coventry I was fascinated by the scene in which Alice and friend are driven by a mad Major through the burning city - it's a still point in the novel, a core around which everything else turns, I think. One of the themes of the book, emerging more strongly now, is about.... steadfastness? I suppose you could trivialize it to the 'keep calm and carry on' theme, so weirdly popular nowadays, but it goes a lot deeper than that here.
Certainly I am curious how everyone will adjust to the post-war period - even the usually light Angela Thirkell's novels had an exhausted aura about them during this time - a let-down, but with so many things still not available, housing shortages, endless rationing, damaged soldiers emotionally and physically to care for - no respite - but the messy business of recuperation. ****1/2 show less
One of Hocking's gifts is to switch easily and clearly from one mind to another in this close third person narrative, even in the same paragraph there can be a switch and only once or twice have I needed to stop and check. This is because the way each character thinks and perceives the world is sufficiently different to be distinguishable. Louise, the eldest daughter, lives show more through her senses and emotions; Alice tends to stand back and watch; Claire, with the most nervous disposition, tends to either panic or intellectualize - she's the 'smartest' but also the least reliable and most difficult of the three. Hocking doesn't judge at all, but approaches these three women and their differing ways of apprehending and being in the world with such clear eyes and so much compassion without turning sappy. We also follow the parents' experiences, I have become very very attached to Judith, the girls' mother, and will simply say, I am so happy for her capacity for happiness! There is Ben, another of my favorites, who enlists as a soldier and becomes a pow of the Japanese. I can't think what I've read, but I have some vivid memories of scenes from some novel or other about this, and Hocking does an excellent job conveying the isolated hopelessness and futility of it.
An aside, having read Coventry I was fascinated by the scene in which Alice and friend are driven by a mad Major through the burning city - it's a still point in the novel, a core around which everything else turns, I think. One of the themes of the book, emerging more strongly now, is about.... steadfastness? I suppose you could trivialize it to the 'keep calm and carry on' theme, so weirdly popular nowadays, but it goes a lot deeper than that here.
Certainly I am curious how everyone will adjust to the post-war period - even the usually light Angela Thirkell's novels had an exhausted aura about them during this time - a let-down, but with so many things still not available, housing shortages, endless rationing, damaged soldiers emotionally and physically to care for - no respite - but the messy business of recuperation. ****1/2 show less
Mary Hocking was a solidly middle-brow writer from the early '60s through the early '90s, filling the void left by Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, and others who wrote mainly for women. A reader of Hocking can expect accomplished writing with very occasional breathtaking turns of phrase, wit, irony, deft plotting, and felicitous characterization. [Daniel Come to Judgement] from 1974 is not among her very best, but it certainly contains the hallmarks of MH's work and is a pleasure to show more read.
Daniel Kerr is a micro-biologist, sent back to England from his research employment in Africa by the African ruler. His presence is an interruption in the lives of his wife and teen-age children as well as that of his sister and mother-in-law with whom they live. If Daniel comes to judgement, so do Erica, Giles, Emma, Dorothy, and Mrs. Prentice.
MH takes her time setting up the situation so that we have a clear idea of what each character is doing and why. MH's social skewers are both gentle and adept, and the climax is laugh-out-loud funny. Well worth the bit of time spent reading this small book! show less
Daniel Kerr is a micro-biologist, sent back to England from his research employment in Africa by the African ruler. His presence is an interruption in the lives of his wife and teen-age children as well as that of his sister and mother-in-law with whom they live. If Daniel comes to judgement, so do Erica, Giles, Emma, Dorothy, and Mrs. Prentice.
MH takes her time setting up the situation so that we have a clear idea of what each character is doing and why. MH's social skewers are both gentle and adept, and the climax is laugh-out-loud funny. Well worth the bit of time spent reading this small book! show less
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