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The Hireling
Emotionally paralyzed by 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, and himself, 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 nonexistent wife and children thereby weaning her from her self-absorption, but creating for himself a dreamlife with Lady Franklin at the heart of it. Half-hoping to make his dream come true, Leadbitter takes a bold step which costs him her company and brings the story to a dramatically unexpected end. "The Hireling" was made into a 1973 film starring Sarah Miles and Robert Shaw.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
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492 people want to read
About the author
L.P. Hartley
138 books192 followersLeslie Poles Hartley (1895-1972) was born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, and educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. For more than thirty years from 1923 he was an indefatigable fiction reviewer for periodicals including the Spectator and Saturday Review. His first book, Night Fears (1924) was a collection of short stories; but it was not until the publication of Eustace and Hilda (1947), which won the James Tait Black prize, that Hartley gained widespread recognition as an author. His other novels include The Go-Between (1953), which was adapted into an internationally-successful film starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates, and The Hireling (1957), the film version of which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
December 26, 2008
why do i do it?? as soon as i notice a hartley book has come back in print, i run right out and i buy it and i read it and now im back to where i started... no more hartley...but still and all... i liked it very much and am glad it is available again. more, please...
April 25, 2024
A great read – strange and smart and thought-provoking.
August 18, 2017
4.5 Stars
The British writer L. P. Hartley is perhaps best known for his novel The Go-Between (1953), a beautifully written story of a young boy’s loss of innocence set against the backdrop of a blistering English summer. It is a book of many contrasts; perhaps most notably, the divisions between the classes, the barriers and conventions that can stand in the way of relationships between people from markedly different social backgrounds. Hartley explores this theme again in The Hireling as an emotionally repressed chauffeur finds himself developing a somewhat inappropriate relationship with one of his regular customers, the lonely but very wealthy Lady Franklin.
To read my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2017...
The British writer L. P. Hartley is perhaps best known for his novel The Go-Between (1953), a beautifully written story of a young boy’s loss of innocence set against the backdrop of a blistering English summer. It is a book of many contrasts; perhaps most notably, the divisions between the classes, the barriers and conventions that can stand in the way of relationships between people from markedly different social backgrounds. Hartley explores this theme again in The Hireling as an emotionally repressed chauffeur finds himself developing a somewhat inappropriate relationship with one of his regular customers, the lonely but very wealthy Lady Franklin.
To read my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2017...
August 22, 2022
4.5 stars. Very, very enjoyable. I think I need more Hartley in my life.
August 17, 2023
Creating a monster…
When her husband died unexpectedly, Lady Franklin had been at a cocktail party with friends. Her grief at his death is therefore compounded by feelings of guilt that she should have been home with him at the time. She had been very young when she married him, not forced into it but certainly encouraged by her family to marry this rich older man, and she is overcome with regret that she never told him that she had grown to love him. As her grief shows no sign of passing, her doctor has advised her to talk to people – to tell them her story and, more importantly, to learn theirs, in the hope that this will revive her interest in living. So she hires a car and driver to take her out for the day, and during the journey she unburdens herself.
The driver is Stephen Leadbitter – ex-army, loner, deeply misogynistic and with a contempt for the rich people who hire him. But he’s also a master at concealing these feelings under a veneer of subservient deference. Bored and annoyed though he is by being forced to listen to Lady Franklin’s grief-soaked outpourings, he pretends interest and sympathy. And when she asks him to tell her about himself, he thinks he’ll get a bigger tip if he embellishes the stark truth of his empty life. So he invents a wife and children. Over the following weeks Lady Franklin hires him several times, and each time asks about his family so that the fantasy grows, and eventually Leadbitter begins to see Lady Franklin playing the part of his wife…
Although there is a plot that keeps the narrative moving forward, this is largely a character study of Stephen Leadbitter, and to a lesser degree of Lady Franklin, and a commentary on class, especially the shallowness of those who live on wealth they have played no part in producing. It is relentlessly bleak and dark, and it’s clear from early on that we are heading towards tragedy, though we don’t know what form it will take.
I’ve seen a few reviews suggesting it’s a love story, with the two lovers held apart because of class differences. I beg to disagree. Leadbitter is well-named – he is a bitter and twisted man, and his hatred of women is profound, dating back to what he saw as his mother’s cruelty to his father. He served in the army but, unlike many fictional characters and real men, it was not his military experiences that left him enraged and violent – he possessed those qualities already and took them into the army with him, and they made him a successful, if unpopular, soldier. In civvy street, he enjoys nothing more than an argument, even violence, especially when he drinks. I thought he was a marvellous monster, a man I hated and would fear in real life and had not one iota of sympathy for. He may grow to “love” Lady Franklin – she is young and pretty and rich, after all – but who wants to be loved by a controlling, potentially violent, misogynistic psychopath?
Lady Franklin is also beautifully drawn, as a woman who is weak both mentally and emotionally and who has been brought up with the belief that a woman’s purpose is to make a good marriage. Now her rich widowhood makes her vulnerable to all the men who desire money more than love. She doesn’t love Leadbitter, not even the fantasy version of himself he shows her. He is so far beneath her socially the thought wouldn’t cross her mind, and if it did, she’d recoil in disgust at herself. She sees herself as a benefactress, especially to the mythical wife and children in whom she’s more interested than she is in Leadbitter. While sometimes that kind of snobbishness would annoy me (though it is of course entirely understandable and commonplace that people stick to their own class, even today), in this case I felt her inability to see Leadbitter as a potential mate was the best protection she could have from a life of certain misery.
The whole thing comes to a head when Lady Franklin starts to go back out into her own world again, catching up with the life she has neglected for the last couple of years. There’s a wonderful chapter in the middle where Hartley lets us eavesdrop on all her friends and social acquaintances as they gossip about her, and reveal their boredom with her excessive grief. The consensus is that she needs a torrid affair to snap her back into life. It is in this context that we first hear about Hughie, another of Leadbitter’s clients…
It seems a bit unfair to say this isn’t as good as The Go-Between since The Go-Between is as close to perfection as a book can get. There’s less light to contrast with the darkness, and none of the filter of childish innocence to soften the selfishness and cruelty of some of the characters. But the characterisation is just as strong and the class divides are shown just as interestingly, bringing us forward fifty years from the time of The Go-Between to the dying days of deference in the late 1950s. It is too bleak to be called enjoyable, but I found it compelling and truthful, and Leadbitter is one of those characters who will continue to linger in my mind. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
When her husband died unexpectedly, Lady Franklin had been at a cocktail party with friends. Her grief at his death is therefore compounded by feelings of guilt that she should have been home with him at the time. She had been very young when she married him, not forced into it but certainly encouraged by her family to marry this rich older man, and she is overcome with regret that she never told him that she had grown to love him. As her grief shows no sign of passing, her doctor has advised her to talk to people – to tell them her story and, more importantly, to learn theirs, in the hope that this will revive her interest in living. So she hires a car and driver to take her out for the day, and during the journey she unburdens herself.
The driver is Stephen Leadbitter – ex-army, loner, deeply misogynistic and with a contempt for the rich people who hire him. But he’s also a master at concealing these feelings under a veneer of subservient deference. Bored and annoyed though he is by being forced to listen to Lady Franklin’s grief-soaked outpourings, he pretends interest and sympathy. And when she asks him to tell her about himself, he thinks he’ll get a bigger tip if he embellishes the stark truth of his empty life. So he invents a wife and children. Over the following weeks Lady Franklin hires him several times, and each time asks about his family so that the fantasy grows, and eventually Leadbitter begins to see Lady Franklin playing the part of his wife…
Although there is a plot that keeps the narrative moving forward, this is largely a character study of Stephen Leadbitter, and to a lesser degree of Lady Franklin, and a commentary on class, especially the shallowness of those who live on wealth they have played no part in producing. It is relentlessly bleak and dark, and it’s clear from early on that we are heading towards tragedy, though we don’t know what form it will take.
I’ve seen a few reviews suggesting it’s a love story, with the two lovers held apart because of class differences. I beg to disagree. Leadbitter is well-named – he is a bitter and twisted man, and his hatred of women is profound, dating back to what he saw as his mother’s cruelty to his father. He served in the army but, unlike many fictional characters and real men, it was not his military experiences that left him enraged and violent – he possessed those qualities already and took them into the army with him, and they made him a successful, if unpopular, soldier. In civvy street, he enjoys nothing more than an argument, even violence, especially when he drinks. I thought he was a marvellous monster, a man I hated and would fear in real life and had not one iota of sympathy for. He may grow to “love” Lady Franklin – she is young and pretty and rich, after all – but who wants to be loved by a controlling, potentially violent, misogynistic psychopath?
Lady Franklin is also beautifully drawn, as a woman who is weak both mentally and emotionally and who has been brought up with the belief that a woman’s purpose is to make a good marriage. Now her rich widowhood makes her vulnerable to all the men who desire money more than love. She doesn’t love Leadbitter, not even the fantasy version of himself he shows her. He is so far beneath her socially the thought wouldn’t cross her mind, and if it did, she’d recoil in disgust at herself. She sees herself as a benefactress, especially to the mythical wife and children in whom she’s more interested than she is in Leadbitter. While sometimes that kind of snobbishness would annoy me (though it is of course entirely understandable and commonplace that people stick to their own class, even today), in this case I felt her inability to see Leadbitter as a potential mate was the best protection she could have from a life of certain misery.
The whole thing comes to a head when Lady Franklin starts to go back out into her own world again, catching up with the life she has neglected for the last couple of years. There’s a wonderful chapter in the middle where Hartley lets us eavesdrop on all her friends and social acquaintances as they gossip about her, and reveal their boredom with her excessive grief. The consensus is that she needs a torrid affair to snap her back into life. It is in this context that we first hear about Hughie, another of Leadbitter’s clients…
It seems a bit unfair to say this isn’t as good as The Go-Between since The Go-Between is as close to perfection as a book can get. There’s less light to contrast with the darkness, and none of the filter of childish innocence to soften the selfishness and cruelty of some of the characters. But the characterisation is just as strong and the class divides are shown just as interestingly, bringing us forward fifty years from the time of The Go-Between to the dying days of deference in the late 1950s. It is too bleak to be called enjoyable, but I found it compelling and truthful, and Leadbitter is one of those characters who will continue to linger in my mind. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
August 9, 2023
The Hireling is another muted, insightful chamber drama from L.P. Hartley, the author of The Go-Between. Set in the aftermath of World War I, the story focuses on Stephen Ledbitter, a bitter, isolated veteran who runs a car-for-hire business and struggles to form human connections. When he's hired as a chauffeur by Lady Franklin, a young aristocrat who is recovering from a serious mental illness, he is flummoxed by her openness about her personal struggles and hidden emotions, struggling to react appropriately. Soon he imagines himself and the Lady as potential lovers, even though she entertains no such notions herself, to the point where he becomes bitterly jealous of the Lady's engagement to a minor aristocrat. Ledbitter realizes that her fiancée is also one of his clients, and soon discovers that he's cheating on Franklin with a young widow - pushing him to take a drastic action that ruins all of their lives. Hartley's is a quintessentially English novel, dealing as it does with class distinctions and emotional repression, heightened by its insightful portrait of Ledbitter. Sometimes he's sympathetic for his loneliness and unaddressed trauma; sometimes he's toxically self-delusional, "mistaking gratitude for love" in his relationship with Lady Franklin, to the point where he invents a fantasy life just so he has something to talk with her about. In modern parlance, he's the ultimate Nice Guy who comes to think himself entitled to a woman's affections because of his politesse. We might wish that Hartley granted Lady Franklin some of the interiority Ledbitter possesses, but the glances offered of her provide a persuasive portrait of a woman dealing with emotional distress in an era remarkably intolerant towards same. She's driven by circumstance to form a relationship with someone she might otherwise never even acknowledge. The other two principals are shallow twits, but serve their purpose as foils to the central relationship - their uncomplicated but evidently sincere affection for each other is much more healthy than whatever dynamic exists between Ledbitter and Lady Franklin. Or would be, if he weren't cheating on Franklin at the same time. This novel was adapted into an excellent film starring Robert Shaw and Sarah Miles, which alters the story significantly (particularly the climax) but retains its potent themes of loneliness, class barriers and the dangers of self-deluding relationships.
September 19, 2024
4.5
It seems very odd to me that L.P. Hartley is only really known for The Go-Between. After reading this one I'm certainly keen to read more by him.
It seems very odd to me that L.P. Hartley is only really known for The Go-Between. After reading this one I'm certainly keen to read more by him.
March 22, 2025
There are a few authors I've begun to group together in my mind including Hartley, Barbara Pym, Muriel Spark, and maybe John Fowles. They differ somewhat in degrees of humor and realism, but they all write these minutely-detailed, psychologically-focused novels of manners. I wonder if there is a better name or term for this?
Anyway, The Hireling is right in line with this style. It's about Steve Leadbitter, a hired car driver who strikes up a convoluted relationship with one of his customers, a wealthy, young widow named Lady Franklin. There are a some clichéd ways a story like this could go, and it doesn't go in any of them. I hate to say more, because I found the events of the book to be singular, while at the same time, within the realm of the mundane. The same could be said of the characters' psychology. Take this passage about Leadbitter:
And this is a description of a man buying a car! It reminds me a bit of the scene in Hartley's novel The Go-Between where the main character lets out his building frustration by attacking a plant. Somehow, Hartley is able to capture the momentousness of the everyday, and that's his particular genius. I'd say The Hireling is second only to The Go-Between in this respect.
Anyway, The Hireling is right in line with this style. It's about Steve Leadbitter, a hired car driver who strikes up a convoluted relationship with one of his customers, a wealthy, young widow named Lady Franklin. There are a some clichéd ways a story like this could go, and it doesn't go in any of them. I hate to say more, because I found the events of the book to be singular, while at the same time, within the realm of the mundane. The same could be said of the characters' psychology. Take this passage about Leadbitter:
A sensation of triumph, such as he had never known, not even on the battlefield, possessed him. It was the undiluted essence of experience, incommunicable, even if he had anyone to share it with; a draught of ecstasy as ravishing to the senses as the fulfillment of physical desire. His tired flesh could hardly contain the pressure of his spirit, yet it too rejoiced, trying, faithful servant that it was, to let him feel his stature towering upwards.
And this is a description of a man buying a car! It reminds me a bit of the scene in Hartley's novel The Go-Between where the main character lets out his building frustration by attacking a plant. Somehow, Hartley is able to capture the momentousness of the everyday, and that's his particular genius. I'd say The Hireling is second only to The Go-Between in this respect.
May 22, 2016
From BBC radio 4 - Classical Serial:
Dramatised by Judith Adams from the novel by L.P.Hartley.
In this 1957 thriller by the author of The Go-Between, L.P.Hartley, ex-Sergeant Stephen Leadbitter, raised from an unhappy working class childhood between the wars, is on a peacetime mission to business success as a chauffeur and car for hire.
He uniformly despises his clients, especially the ladies, until the young, widowed, naive and immensely rich Lady Franklin hires him to take her on trips to cathedrals which she had visited with her late husband. Lady Franklin has been in mourning for her late husband 'a man considerably older than her and an invalid' for two years, and is finding it impossible to return to normal life.
In the confines of the car, and in search of a cure for her depression, she shares her burden with him. He obliges with a story of his own, a fiction, which grows, monster-like, to plague the inventor. Two alien classes are put on a collision course, causing salvation or destruction to all involved, from the epicentre of an unexpected burst of love.
Simon Day (The Simon Day Show (R4), The Fast Show) stars as the lonely damaged anti-hero and Lisa Dillon (Cranford, Bright Young Things) as the hugely rich and very young widow who is the unwitting cause of his downfall. Kenneth Cranham narrates.
Cast:
Narrator ..... Kenneth Cranham
Steve Leadbitter ..... Simon Day
Lady Franklin ..... Lisa Dillon
Hughie ..... Joseph Millson
Constance ..... Ursula Burton
Clarice ..... Nicola Duffett
Simmonds ..... Anthony Gleave
Bert Standing ..... Kevin James
Landlady ..... Jane Purcell
Porter ..... Andrew Cullimore
Producer: Chris Wallis
An Autolycus production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011zldj
Dramatised by Judith Adams from the novel by L.P.Hartley.
In this 1957 thriller by the author of The Go-Between, L.P.Hartley, ex-Sergeant Stephen Leadbitter, raised from an unhappy working class childhood between the wars, is on a peacetime mission to business success as a chauffeur and car for hire.
He uniformly despises his clients, especially the ladies, until the young, widowed, naive and immensely rich Lady Franklin hires him to take her on trips to cathedrals which she had visited with her late husband. Lady Franklin has been in mourning for her late husband 'a man considerably older than her and an invalid' for two years, and is finding it impossible to return to normal life.
In the confines of the car, and in search of a cure for her depression, she shares her burden with him. He obliges with a story of his own, a fiction, which grows, monster-like, to plague the inventor. Two alien classes are put on a collision course, causing salvation or destruction to all involved, from the epicentre of an unexpected burst of love.
Simon Day (The Simon Day Show (R4), The Fast Show) stars as the lonely damaged anti-hero and Lisa Dillon (Cranford, Bright Young Things) as the hugely rich and very young widow who is the unwitting cause of his downfall. Kenneth Cranham narrates.
Cast:
Narrator ..... Kenneth Cranham
Steve Leadbitter ..... Simon Day
Lady Franklin ..... Lisa Dillon
Hughie ..... Joseph Millson
Constance ..... Ursula Burton
Clarice ..... Nicola Duffett
Simmonds ..... Anthony Gleave
Bert Standing ..... Kevin James
Landlady ..... Jane Purcell
Porter ..... Andrew Cullimore
Producer: Chris Wallis
An Autolycus production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011zldj
November 10, 2017
I am not amused by the way it ends.
June 5, 2024
A real disappointment after having loved The Go-between. I can hardly believe it was written by the same author. 1.5 stars.
April 28, 2016
This book starts very well and steadily gathers momentum until, about half-way through, it becomes a bit less convincing. The story revolves around a small set of 4 characters. Steven Leadbitter, a former soldier whose pent-up aggressiveness is a bit of a liability in civilian life, has invested all his savings in the purchase of a car and is determined to make a success of his new career as a driver for hire. Supercilious, cynical and misogynous, he despises and distrusts most everybody. Into his life comes a sweet and foolish young widow who can't forgive herself for having been at a cocktail party when her rich husband had a fatal heart-attack. Ernestine hires Leadbitter to drive her around Britain's most famous cathedrals, but her agenda includes unburdening herself of her guilt feelings. On doctor's orders, she also starts to ask Leadbitter questions about his private life, in an attempt to start taking an interest in other people. Hoping for a larger tip if he presents himself as the breadwinner for a family, Leadbitter invents a wife and kids who become increasingly real both for him and for Ernestine. Indeed, Ernestine's interest in Leadbitter's fictitious family prompts her to give him a large cheque when he pretends to have been struck by some unforeseen financial calamity. Although Ernestine can easily afford to be generous, her spontaneous gift upends Leadbitter's life. While initially he congratulates himself for having conned her into helping him under false pretenses, over time he begins to care about her. In fact, his tragedy is that he is so emotionally stunted that he fails to realize he has fallen in love with Ernestine. One day, out of the blue he kisses her, thinking that there's a chance she might like it and take him as her gigolo or even possibly her husband. But he gets his timing wrong, because Ernestine is not quite ready to open herself to love yet, and his love for her hasn't yet cleansed him of his cynicism. Soon after banishing Leadbitter from her life, Ernestine falls into the clutches of a talentless society painter who can't resist her millions. Leadbitter, who has often been hired by Hughie to pick up his mistress Constance, is justly horrified when he understands that Hughie intends to carry on with her even after marrying Ernestine. It's at this juncture that I felt Hartley somewhat lost his touch. Gearing up to a spectacular finale involving a car crash, he would have us believe that Leadbitter comes to the conclusion that it's best for Ernestine to marry the man she loves, even if this man is deceiving her. At first I found it hard to believe Leadbitter would hesitate so long before sending Ernestine an anonymous letter when it is clear that Hughie is unworthy of Ernestine. Upon reflection, however, I appreciate that the arc of Leabitter's evolution makes sense. By this point in the story, Leadbitter's love for Ernestine has become almost spiritual, and he genuinely feels that he shouldn't let his jealousy interfere with her happiness. My guess is that the love affair between Leadbitter and Ernestine is doomed for 2 reasons: the class divide and Leadbitter's long habit of stifling his feelings for fear of appearing weak and being taken advantage of. All told this is a rather strong novel and I'm surprised I'd never heard of it before I chanced upon a recent reprint in one of Daunt's fabulous shops.
August 23, 2018
Άμα δε θέλετε λυπητερά βιβλία, μην το διαβάσετε ή μάλλον, μην το ακούσετε.
Σε έντυπη μορφή είναι πλέον εξαντλημένο από χρόνια.
Είναι κρίμα που ο συγγραφέας αυτός δεν είναι ευρύτερα γνωστός σε μας. Βρετανός κλασσικός. Έψαχνα για το, κατά γενική ομολογία, καλύτερο του βιβλίο το "The Go-Between" με τον ελληνικό τίτλο "Ο μεσάζων" και το βρήκα σε εκείνες τις παλιές εκδόσεις τσέπης της Άγκυρας του 1972! Εξαντλημένο και αυτό εννοείται.
Εκείνος είναι οδηγός πολυτελούς ταξί και πηγαινοφέρνει τη βρετανική αριστοκρατία στις δουλειές της.
Είναι μάλλον μονοκόματος και μισογύνης εξαιτίας παιδικών απωθημένων από τη γυναικεία φιγούρα της οικογένειας, τη μητέρα του.
Περνάει ένα μεγάλο μέρος της ζωής του στο στρατό, γεγονός που διαμορφώνει το χαρακτήρα προς το πιο άκαμπτο και απόμακρο. Άπειρος ουσιαστικά από αυτό που ονομάζεται "πραγματική ζωή", όταν αποστρατεύεται θέτει ως στόχο του να γίνει οικονομικά ανεξάρτητος. Στόχος που αρχικά του αποφέρει τα προς το ζην αλλά που πολύ σύντομα γίνεται αυτοσκοπός.
Ευγενής αλλά απρόσιτος, τίμιος αλλά κυνικός, ευπαρουσίαστος αλλά ανέραστος.
Εκείνη είναι η λέδη Φράνκλιν, μια νεαρή πλούσια άρτι χηρεύσασα. Προσωπικότητα ανώριμη, μια κοπελίτσα που πριν το καλοκαταλάβει της κανόνισαν ένα γάμο με έναν πολύ πλούσιο και πολύ μεγαλύτερο. Για την τάξη της αυτή ήταν η φυσική πορεία και μάλιστα, ήταν και πολύ τυχερή!
Μετά το θάνατο του συζύγου της βασανίζεται από ενοχές επειδή έτυχε να βρίσκεται σε ένα κοκτέηλ πάρτυ όταν η καρδιά του αποφάσισε να σταματήσει. Πέφτει σε κατάθλιψη, κλείνεται στο σπίτι και βγαίνει μόνο για να πάει σε καθεδρικούς ναούς. Τότε είναι που διαλέγει τον σοφέρ μας. Και εκεί που αυτός είναι βολεμένος στο ευγενές πλην απρόσιτο πέρα δώθε των πελατών, εκεί που τους στολίζει από μέσα του δυσανασχετώντας με τα καπρίτσια τους, εκεί που υπολογίζει νοερά και το κάθε σελίνι που αυγαταίνει το κομπόδεμα του, αναγκάζεται να αρχίσει να κουναρίζει τη λέδη που θέλει κουβεντούλα. Διότι η πονηρή η λέδη, ακολουθεί τη συμβουλή ενός γιατρού της που της υποδεικνύει να μιλάει, να μιλάει, να μιλάει για τον εαυτό της γιατί έτσι θα γίνει καλά. Σωστός ο γιατρός, καλή η σκέψη του, δωρεάν και αποδοτική. Ας το κρατήσουμε στο μυαλό μας προς ιδίαν χρήσιν...
Όσο η λέδη βελτιωνόταν από την κατάθλιψη της, τόσο ο σοφέρ άρχιζε να μεταστρέφεται. Άρχισε να εξαρτάται από τις εξόδους τους και να οικοδομεί μια παράλληλη πραγματικότητα : της οικογένειας με σύζυγο και τρία παιδιά, με τη σύζυγο να έχει στοιχεία και να παραπέμπει αμυδρά σε λέδη.
Δε θα γράψω τίποτε άλλο γιατί θα αποτελεί ύβρη της ατμόσφαιρας του βιβλίου.
Φουκαρά σοφέρ... Πού πήγες ξεβράκωτος στα παλούκια της αριστοκρατίας; Γιατί δεν καθόσουν στα αυγά της τάξης σου; Άλλο η οικονομική άνοδος (εφικτή) άλλο η ταξική άνοδος (ανέφικτη αν μιλάμε για βρετανικό φλέγμα).
Το μεγάλο μειονέκτημα του βιβλίου είχε να κάνει με την ανάγνωση. Η ανάγνωση έγινε από συνθέτη ομιλίας. Μη με ρωτάτε τί είναι αυτό. Δεν ξέρω. Η φωνή ήταν γυναικεία, με χαρακτήρες ρομπότ και ανάγνωση του στυλ " πόσο καιρό θα κρατούσε ο πα διακόσια εξήντα έξι ράδεισος" ή " το περι κεφάλαιο είκοσι Λέσλι Πόουλς Χάρτλυ ο σοφέρ της λέδης Φράνκλιν βάλλον". Τρόμαξα να καταλάβω στην αρχή τί γινόταν και τρόμαζα κάθε φορά να μη χάσω τη συνέχεια της λέξης και του νοήματος.
Αλλά ήταν ένα πολύ ωραίο βιβλίο!
Σε έντυπη μορφή είναι πλέον εξαντλημένο από χρόνια.
Είναι κρίμα που ο συγγραφέας αυτός δεν είναι ευρύτερα γνωστός σε μας. Βρετανός κλασσικός. Έψαχνα για το, κατά γενική ομολογία, καλύτερο του βιβλίο το "The Go-Between" με τον ελληνικό τίτλο "Ο μεσάζων" και το βρήκα σε εκείνες τις παλιές εκδόσεις τσέπης της Άγκυρας του 1972! Εξαντλημένο και αυτό εννοείται.
Εκείνος είναι οδηγός πολυτελούς ταξί και πηγαινοφέρνει τη βρετανική αριστοκρατία στις δουλειές της.
Είναι μάλλον μονοκόματος και μισογύνης εξαιτίας παιδικών απωθημένων από τη γυναικεία φιγούρα της οικογένειας, τη μητέρα του.
Περνάει ένα μεγάλο μέρος της ζωής του στο στρατό, γεγονός που διαμορφώνει το χαρακτήρα προς το πιο άκαμπτο και απόμακρο. Άπειρος ουσιαστικά από αυτό που ονομάζεται "πραγματική ζωή", όταν αποστρατεύεται θέτει ως στόχο του να γίνει οικονομικά ανεξάρτητος. Στόχος που αρχικά του αποφέρει τα προς το ζην αλλά που πολύ σύντομα γίνεται αυτοσκοπός.
Ευγενής αλλά απρόσιτος, τίμιος αλλά κυνικός, ευπαρουσίαστος αλλά ανέραστος.
Εκείνη είναι η λέδη Φράνκλιν, μια νεαρή πλούσια άρτι χηρεύσασα. Προσωπικότητα ανώριμη, μια κοπελίτσα που πριν το καλοκαταλάβει της κανόνισαν ένα γάμο με έναν πολύ πλούσιο και πολύ μεγαλύτερο. Για την τάξη της αυτή ήταν η φυσική πορεία και μάλιστα, ήταν και πολύ τυχερή!
Μετά το θάνατο του συζύγου της βασανίζεται από ενοχές επειδή έτυχε να βρίσκεται σε ένα κοκτέηλ πάρτυ όταν η καρδιά του αποφάσισε να σταματήσει. Πέφτει σε κατάθλιψη, κλείνεται στο σπίτι και βγαίνει μόνο για να πάει σε καθεδρικούς ναούς. Τότε είναι που διαλέγει τον σοφέρ μας. Και εκεί που αυτός είναι βολεμένος στο ευγενές πλην απρόσιτο πέρα δώθε των πελατών, εκεί που τους στολίζει από μέσα του δυσανασχετώντας με τα καπρίτσια τους, εκεί που υπολογίζει νοερά και το κάθε σελίνι που αυγαταίνει το κομπόδεμα του, αναγκάζεται να αρχίσει να κουναρίζει τη λέδη που θέλει κουβεντούλα. Διότι η πονηρή η λέδη, ακολουθεί τη συμβουλή ενός γιατρού της που της υποδεικνύει να μιλάει, να μιλάει, να μιλάει για τον εαυτό της γιατί έτσι θα γίνει καλά. Σωστός ο γιατρός, καλή η σκέψη του, δωρεάν και αποδοτική. Ας το κρατήσουμε στο μυαλό μας προς ιδίαν χρήσιν...
Όσο η λέδη βελτιωνόταν από την κατάθλιψη της, τόσο ο σοφέρ άρχιζε να μεταστρέφεται. Άρχισε να εξαρτάται από τις εξόδους τους και να οικοδομεί μια παράλληλη πραγματικότητα : της οικογένειας με σύζυγο και τρία παιδιά, με τη σύζυγο να έχει στοιχεία και να παραπέμπει αμυδρά σε λέδη.
Δε θα γράψω τίποτε άλλο γιατί θα αποτελεί ύβρη της ατμόσφαιρας του βιβλίου.
Φουκαρά σοφέρ... Πού πήγες ξεβράκωτος στα παλούκια της αριστοκρατίας; Γιατί δεν καθόσουν στα αυγά της τάξης σου; Άλλο η οικονομική άνοδος (εφικτή) άλλο η ταξική άνοδος (ανέφικτη αν μιλάμε για βρετανικό φλέγμα).
Το μεγάλο μειονέκτημα του βιβλίου είχε να κάνει με την ανάγνωση. Η ανάγνωση έγινε από συνθέτη ομιλίας. Μη με ρωτάτε τί είναι αυτό. Δεν ξέρω. Η φωνή ήταν γυναικεία, με χαρακτήρες ρομπότ και ανάγνωση του στυλ " πόσο καιρό θα κρατούσε ο πα διακόσια εξήντα έξι ράδεισος" ή " το περι κεφάλαιο είκοσι Λέσλι Πόουλς Χάρτλυ ο σοφέρ της λέδης Φράνκλιν βάλλον". Τρόμαξα να καταλάβω στην αρχή τί γινόταν και τρόμαζα κάθε φορά να μη χάσω τη συνέχεια της λέξης και του νοήματος.
Αλλά ήταν ένα πολύ ωραίο βιβλίο!
did-not-finish
July 14, 2015Made it halfway through but I'm just not feeling this, I really don't like the main character and that's a drag. But who knows, some day I may run out of books and will pick it up again ...
December 25, 2014
Such a disappointment after The Go-Between. Leadbitter develops into an intriguing character over the first two chapters in contrast with the insipid Lady Franklin, then, suddenly, the narrative changes tone and direction.
June 26, 2018
I don't understand why The Hireling was compared so favourably with The Go-Between. I couldn't find anything redeeming about any of the characters. The writing was dreary, as opposed to the engaging and sensitive writing in The Go-Between.
June 25, 2020
Perhaps a little less brilliant than “The Go-between”, but still a really engaging book, that truly makes you thrill!
And the end!... so surprising in so many levels...
Please, do give this one a chance and read it! You won’t regret it!
And the end!... so surprising in so many levels...
Please, do give this one a chance and read it! You won’t regret it!
September 4, 2008
Wonderfully sad book. A chauffeur falls for the wealthy young widow who hires him during her grieving.Hartley was an expert storyteller and it's a shame that he's been largely forgotten.
June 28, 2011
A bitter sweet and moving story. Characters brilliantly drawn.
July 16, 2023
Absolutely fantastic. How this is not wider known, I'm not sure. I will definitely return to this. So simultaneously simple and complex. The story is gripping, the messages are powerful, and the prose is at times incredible.
February 12, 2023
Well written, as always with Hartley, and excellent character development. However, there was a little too much misogyny in this for me. A reflection of the times, I suppose, but it took away from my enjoyment of the story and made it difficult to find Leadbitter sympathetic.
October 24, 2023
So, the book had at me at its opening line 'the car-hire driver was tall and dark and handsome...' ❤️ Leadbitter, of sorts. Loved obsessing over the emotionally unavailable (working class) guy over 300 pages or so (who doesn't?).
I don't know anything about the author LP Hartley and how solid - if any - his Marxist credentials are (🙄) but I love how the triangle relationship of the heiress (Lady Franklin) her driver (Leadbitter) and his car take on a sort of dynamic best described in Marx's Capital I on the commodity and commodity fetishism: social relationships between people that assume a relationship among things etc (etc meaning: go read Capital for yourself, painfully complex but also beautiful chapters!). Obviously, and written in the 50s (ya?), the car itself is also a heavily loaded object - status symbol, Fordism, masculinity and such - so such a great way to tell a story (half the story being told through driver-passenger conversations and the driver eavesdropping on other passengers, causing the finest intrigues, more akin to Victorian era novels).
And the ending is pretty perfect too (spoiler alert) Leadbitter (who "seldom spoke his thoughts and still more rarely, and then only in anger, did he speak his feelings, because to expose them made him feel naked, and worse than naked – flayed") getting his heart pierced by a strut broken off his steering wheel "...a spike of metal, so thin that when they pulled it out the wound was scarcely visible."
Boomer thought: they don't write books like this anymore!
Faux socialist or otherwise - there's no way not to read the book through a class lens (duh!) - great scene during the church visit and their pondering about the attraction of differences was rather grand (and reminded me of Hillary Clinton et al BS re subsuming class within identity politics).
"Class difference?’ ‘Oh dear no,’ said Lady Franklin, horrified by what she thought was in his mind. The titled lady and the chauffeur! ‘No,’ she repeated, ‘class-distinctions add richness to life, I think. They make the kind of difference we were speaking of – the right kind. At least they used to, but there aren’t any now.’ Leadbitter shook his head. ❤️
Also, don't know exactly which part of my wannabe Marxist self continues to be so drawn (in literature) to the tormented souls of the titled folks. Maybe it's because it's so non-twenty-first-century that it allows for a kind of mental escape that I am looking for (or I am just a closet conservative 🫣).
I don't know anything about the author LP Hartley and how solid - if any - his Marxist credentials are (🙄) but I love how the triangle relationship of the heiress (Lady Franklin) her driver (Leadbitter) and his car take on a sort of dynamic best described in Marx's Capital I on the commodity and commodity fetishism: social relationships between people that assume a relationship among things etc (etc meaning: go read Capital for yourself, painfully complex but also beautiful chapters!). Obviously, and written in the 50s (ya?), the car itself is also a heavily loaded object - status symbol, Fordism, masculinity and such - so such a great way to tell a story (half the story being told through driver-passenger conversations and the driver eavesdropping on other passengers, causing the finest intrigues, more akin to Victorian era novels).
And the ending is pretty perfect too (spoiler alert) Leadbitter (who "seldom spoke his thoughts and still more rarely, and then only in anger, did he speak his feelings, because to expose them made him feel naked, and worse than naked – flayed") getting his heart pierced by a strut broken off his steering wheel "...a spike of metal, so thin that when they pulled it out the wound was scarcely visible."
Boomer thought: they don't write books like this anymore!
Faux socialist or otherwise - there's no way not to read the book through a class lens (duh!) - great scene during the church visit and their pondering about the attraction of differences was rather grand (and reminded me of Hillary Clinton et al BS re subsuming class within identity politics).
"Class difference?’ ‘Oh dear no,’ said Lady Franklin, horrified by what she thought was in his mind. The titled lady and the chauffeur! ‘No,’ she repeated, ‘class-distinctions add richness to life, I think. They make the kind of difference we were speaking of – the right kind. At least they used to, but there aren’t any now.’ Leadbitter shook his head. ❤️
Also, don't know exactly which part of my wannabe Marxist self continues to be so drawn (in literature) to the tormented souls of the titled folks. Maybe it's because it's so non-twenty-first-century that it allows for a kind of mental escape that I am looking for (or I am just a closet conservative 🫣).
July 9, 2021
This novel set in the 1920s concerns an unusual relationship which develops between a wealthy young widow still recovering from the sudden death of her husband and a proud, lonely war veteran who begins working for her as a driver.
I wanted to read it as I love the film version in which Sarah Miles and Robert Shaw are perfectly cast. This turned out to be very rewarding as there is a great deal more psychological insight in the book as well as many differences from the film, especially in regard to the ending. Unusually, I think the film actually improved on the book in some respects. Hartley's novel is very carefully worked out, and he makes clever use of the sliding partition in Leadbitter's second car for instance, but there was a glaring plot hole at one point which is absent in the film. I also much preferred the ending of the film. However, this is such a compelling story and the characters so well-drawn that the few shortcomings are easily forgiven and the themes of class, loneliness, loss and unrequited love have not dated in the slightest.
I wanted to read it as I love the film version in which Sarah Miles and Robert Shaw are perfectly cast. This turned out to be very rewarding as there is a great deal more psychological insight in the book as well as many differences from the film, especially in regard to the ending. Unusually, I think the film actually improved on the book in some respects. Hartley's novel is very carefully worked out, and he makes clever use of the sliding partition in Leadbitter's second car for instance, but there was a glaring plot hole at one point which is absent in the film. I also much preferred the ending of the film. However, this is such a compelling story and the characters so well-drawn that the few shortcomings are easily forgiven and the themes of class, loneliness, loss and unrequited love have not dated in the slightest.
November 24, 2009
Just a few pages in he used one of my favorite phrases ("the old moon in the new moon's arms") AND I learned a new word: martinet. If you know what that means off the top of your head, I'll give you a cookie.
I had four goals today.
1. Plan and wear an outfit built around my new velour sweatshirt with the fox logo.
2. Make a mother culture for cheese.
3. Finish this book.
4. PIZZA!
Thanks to everyone who helps me live my dreams every day. A special thanks to Leslie Poles Hartley for writing such a funny, strange, wonderful book.
I had four goals today.
1. Plan and wear an outfit built around my new velour sweatshirt with the fox logo.
2. Make a mother culture for cheese.
3. Finish this book.
4. PIZZA!
Thanks to everyone who helps me live my dreams every day. A special thanks to Leslie Poles Hartley for writing such a funny, strange, wonderful book.
May 27, 2013
L.P. Hartley writes using sharp, biting metaphors. He has a fantastic feel of Englishness, as defined by the upstairs-downstairs divide. This makes a very good reading. The book hasn't aged gracefully and still delivers. Highly recommended, if you're interested in the way the English used to go around amorous matters. These days we supposedly live in a classless society, partly because the titled new generation quite often has no class at all. Just read the papers.
July 19, 2016
After being blown away by the brilliance of The Go-Between I launched straight into The Hireling and in retrospect that probably wasn't fair. Many books will pale against The Go-Between and a book by the same author would probably suffer even more in comparison. The Hireling certainly isn't a bad book, there is some lovely insight into the minds of the two main characters, but when push comes to shove I'm afraid I found it difficult to care about either of them very much.
March 14, 2019
I have very fond memories of reading The Go Between at school. A classic, must re-read one day (year) soon....
This one, not so much. The lovely orange 1960s Penguin design is the best thing about it really. A little dull, a little contrived in its plot.
This one, not so much. The lovely orange 1960s Penguin design is the best thing about it really. A little dull, a little contrived in its plot.
August 30, 2007
An intimately scaled novel that pulls you into the divergent minds of two people in a strange and sad relationship. Psychologically acute.
March 6, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 9, 2016
Scheming prick falls in love with snobbish widow. Drive on.
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