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Mr Nicholas
Mr Nicholas is a devastating study of the domestic horrors of English suburbia, personified by the Nicholas family and its snobbish patriarch, a petty tyrant whose greatest pleasure is to sip gin while bullying and arguing with his beleaguered wife and three sons, 'intellectual, ineffectual' Peter, rebellious Owen, and young David, whose relationship with a retired Army captain threatens to bring scandal on the family. With wry humour and surgically precise prose, Thomas Hinde paints an unforgettable portrait of an everyday monster, a character who is contemptible, yet curiously sympathetic.Thomas Hinde (1926-2014) burst onto the literary scene at age 26 with his first novel, Mr Nicholas (1952), which was widely acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic and hailed as one of the finest English novels of its day. This new edition, the first in over 35 years, includes a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe and a reproduction of the original jacket art by Peter Curl. Hinde's classic thriller of suburban paranoia, The Day the Call Came (1964), is also available from Valancourt."Savage, brilliant." - New York Times"An expert novel. His storytelling is done in meticulously understated style, but beneath its bland surface, Mr Nicholas is relentless in its exploration of a quiet, homey little English hell." - Time Magazine"A brilliant and beautifully written book, controlled, exact and illuminating ... one of the few really distinguished post-war novels." - Kenneth Allsop"A wonderful novel, full of passion but written subtly with humour, sympathy and restraint . . . Mr Nicholas himself is a brilliant portrayal of a fascinating monster." - Financial Times
- GenresFiction
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1952
20 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Hinde
35 books1 followerSir Thomas Willes Chitty, 3rd Baronet better known by his pen name Thomas Hinde, was a British novelist. He wrote under the name Hinde to avoid upsetting his father with his much acclaimed first novel.
His first novel, Mr Nicholas, was published in 1953. His second, Happy As Larry, the story of a disaffected, unemployable, aspiring writer with a failed marriage, led critics to associate him with the Angry Young Men movement. An excerpt from Happy As Larry appeared in the popular paperback anthology, Protest: The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men.
Hinde published thirteen further novels before turning to non-fiction. After 1980, he also published books on English stately homes and gardens, English court life, and the forests of Britain, as well as histories of English schools.
His first novel, Mr Nicholas, was published in 1953. His second, Happy As Larry, the story of a disaffected, unemployable, aspiring writer with a failed marriage, led critics to associate him with the Angry Young Men movement. An excerpt from Happy As Larry appeared in the popular paperback anthology, Protest: The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men.
Hinde published thirteen further novels before turning to non-fiction. After 1980, he also published books on English stately homes and gardens, English court life, and the forests of Britain, as well as histories of English schools.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 10, 2018
10 chapters, 94,000+ words
This author may have needed professional help. Everything he writes here seems to have the same importance whether it’s a hot day, painting and drawing, eating breakfast, an airplane crash, blistering paint, a game of cricket, a forest fire, the wind and rain or a younger underage brother running away with a “dirty artillery captain”. All of these occupy the foreground so to speak and get nearly the same reactions from the characters and the protagonist/narrator, Peter. Until chapter six, Peter gives us a floating, meandering series of muted feelings, sensations, occasionally punctuated by the antics of his domineering father and long-suffering family. Maybe it’s Peter who needs the professional help.
It’s not all bad. Hinde spends too much time with nature and he’s no Thomas Hardy, but his gift for describing nature is similar to Hardy’s and he does an excellent job on suburbia. It’s here that he breaks from his usual pattern and puts evocative things in the background, creating a striking atmosphere. There’s an undercurrent of park bands, radio broadcasts, traffic, short trips to the pub and explosions from military exercises.
Somewhere in chapter six (about 40% of the way in), as if by accident the more dramatic story elements start to outnumber the paint blisterings and Rhododendrons waving in the wind and the novel comes to life. Mr. Nicholas, the domineering father, becomes at first harder to defend, then harder to hate and the story becomes an interesting family drama until the slightly disappointing ending.
2.75 stars
This author may have needed professional help. Everything he writes here seems to have the same importance whether it’s a hot day, painting and drawing, eating breakfast, an airplane crash, blistering paint, a game of cricket, a forest fire, the wind and rain or a younger underage brother running away with a “dirty artillery captain”. All of these occupy the foreground so to speak and get nearly the same reactions from the characters and the protagonist/narrator, Peter. Until chapter six, Peter gives us a floating, meandering series of muted feelings, sensations, occasionally punctuated by the antics of his domineering father and long-suffering family. Maybe it’s Peter who needs the professional help.
It’s not all bad. Hinde spends too much time with nature and he’s no Thomas Hardy, but his gift for describing nature is similar to Hardy’s and he does an excellent job on suburbia. It’s here that he breaks from his usual pattern and puts evocative things in the background, creating a striking atmosphere. There’s an undercurrent of park bands, radio broadcasts, traffic, short trips to the pub and explosions from military exercises.
Somewhere in chapter six (about 40% of the way in), as if by accident the more dramatic story elements start to outnumber the paint blisterings and Rhododendrons waving in the wind and the novel comes to life. Mr. Nicholas, the domineering father, becomes at first harder to defend, then harder to hate and the story becomes an interesting family drama until the slightly disappointing ending.
2.75 stars
January 31, 2018
3.5/5
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews