Mine Own Executioner

by Nigel Balchin

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Genres: British Literature, Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

Trained originally as an industrial psychologist, in which capacity he helped Rowntree’s to successfully launch Black Magic chocolates in 1933, Nigel Balchin first received critical acclaim as a novelist during the Second World War when he wrote Darkness Falls From the Air. It was the first of three evocative novels (including the smash-hit The Small Back Room) that made good use of his wartime employment experiences at the Ministry of Food and later in the army. This trio was followed by a stream of other fine novels, such as A Sort of Traitors, Sundry Creditors and The Fall of the Sparrow. Balchin diversified into film scriptwriting after the war, winning a BAFTA for his work on The Man Who Never Was and penning what he whimsically described as “the first folio edition of Cleopatra”, being his original (unused) script for the Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor epic. When Balchin died in 1970, at the age of 61, the Guardian anointed him “the novelist of men at work”, a fitting epithet for one of the best fiction writers of the twentieth century.

Reviews

[CQM · Rating 4 out of 5]

More good stuff from Balchin. This is another in the same vein as The Small Back Room and Darkness Falls From the Air, as a professional man finds issues with work and his private life all coming to a crisis point. As with the other two books there are apparently pointless and unrelated episodes but again it's all seamless as everything builds the pressure on our protagonist. This one also features the usual bottom slapping and seemingly lax morals surrounding marriage.
Not up to the extremely high standards of the other two books I mentioned but still very fine.

[Tina Tamman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that I like, leaving me thinking about justice and law and how things were then and are now. Psychoanalysts at present are much respected, their work is lucrative, which presumably was not the case then, at least judging by the novel. It was first published in 1945 and the effects of the war on the human mind are amply displayed. The central character is a psychoanalyst and I grew to like him a lot. I understand that the story has been made into a film but I won't seek it out. The issues of the novel are too complex for a 90-minute film.

[Ben Bergonzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading or re-reading Balchin is to me an absolute delight. He tells his stories through a series of conversations, very fluent, sometimes, funny, often bitter or angry, but always totally believable. Whether his people are scientists, industrialists or (as here) psychiatrists Balchin has the knack of getting inside their worlds and their jargon so that you can almost see and feel the draughty rooms, ugly coats and hats, incessant cigarette smoking of post-war London. The protagonist here, Felix Milne is a lay therapist at a time when most psychiatrists were qualified doctors. He is a petulant, lecherous man but of course (as this is Balchin) immensely perceptive and sensitive. Like Sammy Rice in The Small Back Room he is riddled with self-doubt and needlessly puts his life on the line to prove his worth, if only to himself. Milne's rocky marriage and his patients, comical, pathetic, and finally dangerously schizophrenic form the main arc of the story but a major sub-plot concerns the insidious friction between the medical establishment and the unqualified psychiatrists. The story is told with admirable concision and economy, not an ounce of unnecessary weight. A fast, enjoyable read. Very highly recommended.

[richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend who knows me well pointed me to Nigel Balchin, and this is now my third foray. On the back of my 1976 reprint of this 1945 novel is a quote from John Betjeman describing Balchin as "one of our dozen readable writers of genius" - I suppose the publisher felt the need to strike the word 'living' from the quote as Balchin died in 1970, but I think it's a pity, as it puts some additional context to praise not to be taken lightly - context otherwise difficult to come by for this writer as successive generations rapidly lose touch with the cultural milieu of post-WWII Europe. We have a collective memory of the war that is increasingly selective and subject to reinterpretation in light of today's politics; I find reading and watching once-popular novels and films dealing with the immediate experiences of regular people are worthwhile ways back to understanding the most momentous period of 'living' modern history.

[Bobbie Darbyshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

My book group has moved on from between-the-wars writers to the 40s and 50s; this one, published in 1945, explores the work and private relationships of a lay psycho-analyst. Despite the old-fashioned idioms, the avuncular condescension to women, and the clunk of the Freudian denouement, I thoroughly enjoyed this. There are several engrossing story threads, the hero’s character and dilemmas are convincing, and I was on the edge of my seat at the climax. As with Sackville-West and Lehmann, I’m glad to have discovered a mostly forgotten author I missed out on.

[Alicea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to confess that I did a thing which I am always telling people they shouldn't guilt themselves into doing...I read a book that I wasn't really all that interested in reading. My rationale was that I had gone out of my way (interlibrary loan from a different state) to get this book and I didn't want to admit that it wasn't worth the effort. *sigh*

The book that I'm referring to is Mine Own Executioner by Nigel Balchin. I want to give you a central theme or something to succinctly explain it but the closest I can manage is saying that it's about a man who is battling an inner turmoil while also trying to be a competent psycho-analyst. There's a lot of discussion around the validity of a medical degree vs hands-on training which leads to our main character, Felix Milne, taking on a very difficult case to 'prove' that he is just as capable as a medical professional. His patient was recently involved in a traumatic experience in the war and as a result he experienced a psychotic break from reality and tried to murder his wife. While Milne tries to uncover the root of this man's troubles he continues to ignore the cause of his own marital problems. He has a strained and virtually platonic relationship with his wife and actively struggles with his feelings for her best friend. I guess there's an irony there that he is able to ascertain and ultimately help heal what ails his patients but he can't clearly see that he is the cause of his own misfortunes and unhappiness. Milne is an acerbic and not altogether likable character who plays God with those he seeks to help (and his wife). He justifies this by saying that it's a necessary part of their treatment that they come to see him this way. I don't think I can say with any conviction that I liked this book. The characters were one dimensional, the plot was fairly predictable, and the ending was highly unsatisfactory. I can't even say that I recommend it to ________ or ________. 0/10

PS They made it into a film. Why?

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging and thought provoking read which has worn surprisingly well, despite patches of dialogue and occasional misogyny revealing its age. It’s rare to find a novel from any era with much worthwhile to say about the therapeutic life, but Mine Own Executioner offers a still fascinating insight into the state of psychiatry/psychology in late 1940s London. The attitude of the medical establishment towards therapists without medical training, regardless of what they may or may not have to offer, seems to have changed little in 70+ years. The story and characters are engaging too, the ending unexpected, and the pressures of therapeutic work, and its impact on relationships, very convincingly portrayed. Recommended for anyone with an interest in psychology.

[Sarah Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent inssight into a psychoanalyst’s practice

[Neer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Works well as a socio-historical document, not so much as a novel. More here: https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpr...

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was decent, if a bit listless. I liked the characters, the writing, and it was easily read, but it rarely felt urgent or that there was any immediacy to return to it when I put it down. Witty and with veins of modernity despite its age.

[Mario Hinksman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky but engaging tale of Felix Milne, a troubled (and medically unqualified) psychoanalyst who is bored with his predictable crop of patients who include a high proportion of well-heeled middle-aged women who feel unloved by their husbands. Also facing problems in his own marriage, he is a walking cliche of a psychoanalyst who often has more problems than some of his bored patients, who in many cases have little wrong with them save a reasonable reaction to unsatisfactory circumstances.

Felix Milne is also part of a rather dysfunctional collective of psychoanalysts and psychiatrists who seem to do their best to scare off a well-meaning but uninformed patron.

The plot is engaging, if a little slow at the start. When Milne is consulted by the attractive American wife of a former British PoW who suffered at the hands of the Japanese, the quirky dysfunctional skies over Felix Milne's life take on a more ominous hue. Treating sick patients really has consequences and the stakes are far higher than Felix could have imagined when he was bored with his hypochondriac middle-aged ladies.

I think it is out of print and found this copy in one of the book shelves of Caffe Nero where I also leave books. Recommended and an authentic British novel of the post-war period.

[Joanna Dobson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very much a book of its time. Interesting from a historical point of view, especially the portrayal of the early days of psychoanalysis, and I can imagine that in the 1940s its implicit criticism of the medical establishment was part of its appeal. However, I couldn't get past the appalling sexism and stereotyping of people in mental distress.