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Loading... The Hireling (1957)by L. P. Hartley
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. It's not a term I'm in the habit of using, but this story really is haunting. A driver is employed by a wealthy young widow to drive her around the cathedrals outside London. He is single, without family or friends, but tells her stories about a family he has made up just to have something to say to her, to fill the air. She becomes hooked on hearing about his family, he falls in love, but they are of different social tiers... I know how it sounds. But Hartley was an accomplished novelist and the ending stays with you. 3789. The Hireling, by L. P. Hartley (read 25 Aug 2003) I wanted to read something by this author, who won a James Tait Black award in 1947 and who has a book on Anthony Burgess' famous list of 99 best novels published between 1939 and 1983. But this book, which came out in 1957, is the only book by him I could find in town. So I read it. It is not a bad book, and lives up to the description that Hartley is one of those rare novelists who knows what he wants to do and goes about it with a minimum of waste. It is an account of a hired car driver who sort of falls in love with the upper class woman who has him drive her around to get over the death of her rich husband. no reviews | add a review
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Overcome with grief at her husband's death, Lady Franklin, an eligible young widow, unburdens herself to Leadbitter - a gallant, hard-bitten ex-soldier who has invested his savings in the car he drives for hire - as he takes her on a series of journeys. He in turn beguiles her with stories of his non-existent wife and children, drawing her out of her self-absorption and weaving a dream-life with Lady Franklin at its heart. Half-hoping to make his dream come true, Leadbitter takes a bold, not to say reckless, step which costs him dearly, and brings these characters' tangled story to a dramatic and unexpected conclusion. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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This is a quite wonderful story which is told simply but with great skill. ( )