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Slowly through the 549 pages of The Furys James Hanley reveals his characters, lets their actions speak for them, presents accelerating events through the eyes of one after another, introduces a mass of realistic detail. The first of three novels dealing with the wild Fury clan, The Furys begins with the sort of situation on which most novels end. is distinguished by its sustained intensity, its brilliant characterization of Mrs. Fury, its brisk, unadorned, effective prose style, its few powerful, panoramic scenes of violence and disorder during the strike. Although readers may be repelled by the detachment of James Hanley's writing—so chill it sometimes seems close to scorn—may dislike the general meanness that marks his minor figures, they are likely to agree that The Furys is a bold and arresting effort, less squeamish, less sentimental, than most of the novels dealing with the hardships of lower-class life.
The Author. James Hanley was born in Dublin in 1901, went to sea at the age of 13, joined the Army during the War, has worked as a stoker, cook, butcher, clerk, postman, and has been a centre of critical controversy since he began to write. His grim short stories, Men in Darkness, and his novel, Boy, won praise from the late Colonel T. E. Lawrence and other English writers, censure from Author Hugh Waipole and critics who believe that fiction should be polite. Deeply influenced by Balzac and Turgenev, James Hanley has a special dislike for the romances of Joseph Conrad, writes that he is "mostly interested in the insignificant. The more insignificant a person is in this whirlpool of industrialized and civilized society, the more important he is for me."