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Hanging Johnny
Paperback
Published January 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 25, 2026
There is a chunk of this review, further down, that I am going to put in spoilers. Hopefully it will be hidden on most people’s screens, but you are warned just in case.
I’m told that this novel was written in 1927 by an Irishwoman who had emigrated to the States, and who was all of 18 years old at the time. It was a remarkable achievement for an 18-year-old to write a novel like this, but how does her work compare with that of more mature writers? It probably stood comparison with other novelists of her time, but I personally found it rather melodramatic. I expect that’s down to a change in taste over the past century.
The novel is set in Ireland in the 1870s. Johnny Cregan, a hangman, is overwhelmed with guilt after hanging a man who was one of his few friends. After becoming a drifter he marries a woman called Anna, the daughter of a small country shopkeeper, after a whirlwind romance. Anna doesn’t know Johnny’s past, has limited experience of life, and has married beneath her class.
The author’s observations of the couple are perhaps the strongest part of the novel. Anna and Johnny simply do not understand each other, and, in the way of men and women, misinterpret each other’s wishes and wants. The couple land in a Dublin slum and again Anna, with her “respectable” background, cannot understand her neighbours. I would say Myrtle Johnson was a keen observer of humans, for someone still a teenager.
Within the novel the spoken dialogue is in Irish idiom. On the second page someone remarks of another, “This is the way he does be talking all the day.” Later one character, asked about a future course of action replies, “Sorra a know I knows.” I quite like the various dialects of English, so for me this added to the novel.
An unusual story, with good and bad points.
I’m told that this novel was written in 1927 by an Irishwoman who had emigrated to the States, and who was all of 18 years old at the time. It was a remarkable achievement for an 18-year-old to write a novel like this, but how does her work compare with that of more mature writers? It probably stood comparison with other novelists of her time, but I personally found it rather melodramatic. I expect that’s down to a change in taste over the past century.
The novel is set in Ireland in the 1870s. Johnny Cregan, a hangman, is overwhelmed with guilt after hanging a man who was one of his few friends. After becoming a drifter he marries a woman called Anna, the daughter of a small country shopkeeper, after a whirlwind romance. Anna doesn’t know Johnny’s past, has limited experience of life, and has married beneath her class.
The author’s observations of the couple are perhaps the strongest part of the novel. Anna and Johnny simply do not understand each other, and, in the way of men and women, misinterpret each other’s wishes and wants. The couple land in a Dublin slum and again Anna, with her “respectable” background, cannot understand her neighbours. I would say Myrtle Johnson was a keen observer of humans, for someone still a teenager.
Within the novel the spoken dialogue is in Irish idiom. On the second page someone remarks of another, “This is the way he does be talking all the day.” Later one character, asked about a future course of action replies, “Sorra a know I knows.” I quite like the various dialects of English, so for me this added to the novel.
An unusual story, with good and bad points.
March 7, 2025
Rick over at Tough Poets is so good at his job! I absolutely loved this. And written by an 18-year old (at the time), wow!
Check out his site…
https://www.toughpoets.com
Check out his site…
https://www.toughpoets.com
July 15, 2023
Quite a remarkable achievement for an 18-year-old first time author.
Hanging Johnny (1928) appears to have gotten rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic when first published. It's the story of Johnny, a ne'er do well, unable to earn his living in any other way than as a hangman. In the book's opening scene, he carries out a sentence of execution on an innocent man, his friend, in exchange for pay. Scorned by everyone else in the town, Johnny is run out of town and forced into vagrancy. One day he comes to a town, where he collapses in exhaustion outside a small grocery store run by Anna and her father. She takes him in, nurses him back to health, and gives him a job as gardener. She falls in love with him and they start a family together, but they're ultimately incompatible -- he, a layabout, a dreamer, and guilt-ridden over his hangings; she, a commonsense, practical, down-to-earth woman. Without spoiling any of the plot, the story devolves into tragedy and ends with yet another hanging....
Probably a bit old-fashioned and melodramatic for most modern readers, but nonetheless it had me turning the pages and was undeniably well-written.
Hanging Johnny (1928) appears to have gotten rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic when first published. It's the story of Johnny, a ne'er do well, unable to earn his living in any other way than as a hangman. In the book's opening scene, he carries out a sentence of execution on an innocent man, his friend, in exchange for pay. Scorned by everyone else in the town, Johnny is run out of town and forced into vagrancy. One day he comes to a town, where he collapses in exhaustion outside a small grocery store run by Anna and her father. She takes him in, nurses him back to health, and gives him a job as gardener. She falls in love with him and they start a family together, but they're ultimately incompatible -- he, a layabout, a dreamer, and guilt-ridden over his hangings; she, a commonsense, practical, down-to-earth woman. Without spoiling any of the plot, the story devolves into tragedy and ends with yet another hanging....
Probably a bit old-fashioned and melodramatic for most modern readers, but nonetheless it had me turning the pages and was undeniably well-written.
January 13, 2025
Another really good one brought back to life by Tough Poets Press. There is so much packed into this rather brief, tragic novel. Not just "very well done for an 18-year-old," it stands on its own merits. I'm not sure if Johnston kept it up after this wonderful start, but I aim to find out.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews