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In the 1950s he wrote some of "his finest novels", Closed Harbour (1952), The Welsh Sonata (1954), Levine (1956), and An End and a Beginning (1958), the final volume of the Furys sequence. [30] Characters in extreme situations is also the subject these novels of Hanley's maturity, where the male protagonists, following some trauma, are both unemployed and isolated from family and society. [31] A local character from Llanfechain was also the source of the central character, Rhys, in The Welsh Sonata (1954), which was Hanley’s first full-length novel with a Welsh setting. [56] This novel marks an important step forward in Hanley’s attempt to give form to his feelings about Wales. The Welsh Sonata is narrated from the perspective of Welsh characters, and Hanley occasional uses Welsh words, and he employs, at times, a poetic style. [57] John Fordham, James Hanley: Modernism and the Working Class (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2002), p. 23. James (Joseph) Hanley (3 September 1897 – 11 November 1985) was a British novelist, short story writer, and playwright from Kirkdale, Liverpool, Lancashire, of Irish descent. Hanley came from a seafaring family and spent two years at sea himself, during World War I. He published his first novel Drift in 1930. In the 1930s and 1940s his novels and short stories focussed on seamen and their families, and included Boy (1931), the subject of an obscenity trial. After World War II there was less emphasis on the sea in his works. While frequently praised by critics, Hanley's novels did not sell well. In the late 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s he wrote plays, mainly for the BBC, for radio and then for television, and also for the theatre. He returned to the novel in the 1970s. His last novel, A Kingdom, was published in 1978, when he was eighty. His brother Gerald was also a novelist. Mesmerising, lyrical and utterly enchanting The Hollow Sea pulled me in as tenderly as the tides which crash around these isolated islands. Sensitively described with a wonderfully creative edginess both Scottie and Thordis have their flaws but it is these very differences which binds their stories together and the result is something quite, quite special.
Scottie’s ostensible reason for visiting the islands is to take part in a seal survey. This provides plenty of sea action, marine life and island views. Kirby takes the time to examine matters of ecology, and the differing attitudes to marine life between the islanders and the ecologists, between the present and the past. John Fordham, James Hanley: Modernism and the Working Class. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2002 p. 150. Despite the islanders' warnings, Scottie sets out to discover the truth. But as she dares to cross the Hollow Sea, will its secrets give her the answers she needs?Paul Binding, "Man Against Fate", a review of James Hanley's Last Voyage and Other Stories. Times Literary Supplement, 5 December 1997, p. 21. The issue of childlessness and infertility are raised, but very sympathetically. On the islands Myths and Legends are exposed and there are explanations and reconciliations. Missing childhood memories, bravery and deceptions are to be applauded in this story.
Scottie and her husband Jasminder, are trying for a baby. They are on the IVF cycle of hope and disappointment. Scottie decides that enough is enough, and she makes plans to join a Seal counting group in the North Atlantic waters. Scottie is intrigued by an island she saw on line, St Hia, it reminds her of previous memories, that she doesn’t know much about, due to being adopted at the age of eight. The Hollow Sea" by Annie Kirby is a very interesting debut novel mixing mystery and psychological drama, with just a touch of fantasy. An atmospheric tale, shot through with folklore. The writing shimmers' KATE SAWYER, Costa shortlisted author of The Stranding The Furys (drama) BBC Radio, North, Northern Ireland: a weekly serial from 21 September to 26 November 1961.
A real beauty. A magical story of one woman's infertility combined with a mythical sea world. Beautiful Laura Price, author of Single Bald Female
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