Say Nothing

by James Hanley

Charlie is a young Londoner who goes up North to work in a law firm as an articled clerk in the fictitious town of Garlston. The town seems to be experiencing a mini-boom and housing is difficult to find so Charlie ends up in the Baines’ house. While not quite the family from hell, the Baines are clearly not an ideal or a happy family. There are three people, besides Charlie, in the house. Mrs. Baines is obsessed with money and keeps Mr. Baines under firm control. Mr. Baines is a religious man (Mrs. Baines is not particularly religious) and likes to read from the Bible before meals. He rarely go outs of the house except to work (both Mr. and Mrs. Baines work for Lawler’s, a nail firm). Indeed, he is scared to, not least because of his fear of what Mrs. Baines would say. He has twice tried to get out all together but has only managed to venture a few hundred yards.The third resident is Winifred, Mrs. Baines’ sister, who used to be love with Tom, Mrs. Baines’ first (and now deceased) husband. Winifred is solitary and is keeps to her room. Both Mr. and Mrs. Baines maintain that she is mad and she is clearly disturbed. Charlie is interjected into this cauldron and finds himself at a loss. He tries to help Winifred, but is accused by Mrs. Baines of having sex with her (he merely takes her for a short walk). He tries to help Mr. Baines, by taking him out. Mr. Baines is reluctant and when they go to the pub, Baines is mocked by the other customers and he flees. And all the time Mrs. Baines is mocking and criticising her husband, her sister and Charlie. As with other Hanley novels, the atmosphere is of a claustrophobic, self-destructive family. When Charlie finally escapes, he sees himself as returning to the world. In short, a typical Hanley novel of intensity and pain.

190 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Born in Kirkdale, Liverpool, in 1897 (not Dublin, nor 1901 as he generally implied) to a working-class family, Hanley probably left school in 1911 and worked as a clerk, before going to sea in 1915 at the age of 17 (not 13 as he again implied). Thus life at sea was a formative influence and much of his early writing is about seamen.
Then, in April 1917, Hanley jumped ship in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, and shortly thereafter joined the Canadian Army in Fredericton, NB. Hanley fought in France in the summer of 1918, but was invalided out shortly thereafter. He then went to Toronto, Canada, for two months, in the winter of 1919, to be demobbed, before returning to Liverpool on 28 March 1919. He may have taken one final voyage before working as a railway porter in Bootle. In addition to working as a railway porter, he devoted himself "to a prodiguous range of autodidactic, high cultural activities – learning the piano ...attending ... concerts ... reading voraciously and, above all, writing." It is also probable that he later worked at a number of other jobs, while writing fiction in his spare time. However, it was not until 1929 that his novel Drift was accepted, and this was published in March, 1930.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is what happens when you are a book from the library, get it, realize it is a different book than the one you wanted but with the same title, and then have to read it anyways because it is the middle of a fucking global pandemic and your stash of library books has dwindled to nothing.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely written, powerful, and funny, if you have a warped sense of humour. About a lodger who finds himself trapped in a house of a greiving couple whose behaviour is ritualised to the point of insanity. Time said of it: 'This bitter, brittle work has the qualities of a Byzantine mosaic. Its characters are rigidly, severely drawn; its setting is in "a tight house in a tight town where night has the depth of caves and daylight has no arch." It is written in a stream of harsh-sounding consonants, and its dialogue is a succession of jagged-edged monosyllables.'

I just remember picking it up in a library one day (I'd never heard of Hanley before) and being struck by its power and simplicity and weirdness (if the two can go together). The moment the lodger enters the house is terrifically claustrophobic. Made me want to go and pick up a pen and write.

[Dana Herrera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grabbed the wrong book with the same name from the pcl

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wondrous, lovely book. Droll and dialog-driven like the best of Henry Green.

[Matt Vigneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hanley captures phycological horror well. The novel is subtle, and not much happens over a couple of days but the story draws you in to the mystery, character details, and climax.