reviews_and_ramblings | The Hired Man by Jan Irving

I'm an old romance reader, old since I like the romances of the '70 and '80; I'm not that old of age, but in Italy those romance arrived more or less 10-15 years after their officially release in the United States. And so, when in America the Western Romance was becoming a passed fashion, I discovered it. There is one that was and still is, one of my favorite, Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer, the story of an ex con (framed for the murder of a prostitute) who is hired by a widow with two little sons and a third arriving. It's a wonderful romance and it was later made into a movie with late Christopher Reeves as the hero. But more than Morning Glory, my favorite, that I read and read again, was The Rainbow Season by Lisa Gregory. Probably to many of you the name Lisa Gregory says nothing, but she is now more famous and read, as one of the queen of Regency Romances as Candace Camp. But sincerely I think that the Rainbow Season, the love story set at the end of the XIX century between the bad boy, and ex con, of the town, with the young spinster who is in love with her brother in law and decides to marry the hired man of her late father, is and will always be her best novel. There is only another one that can compete, Satan's Angel by Kristin James, the story of a lawless who falls in love for the woman he kidnapped, a woman who was traumatized when she was still a child, and now she is maybe too simple, unable to see the evil in other people... but Kristin James is Lisa Gregory, so, you see, it's obvious why I like that romance as much as the other one.

Why this long introduction? To pay my compliments to Jan Irving to be able to make me feeling again as the teenager of so many years ago, reading a story that is able to take me in another world, a place where your dreams come true. The Hired Man is a perfect Western Romance, as seldom you find today. The Historical Western Romance are strange, since you can read of a recent past history: you can enjoy an historical romance without feeling too far from their characters, escaping in that world is like taking a short trip over the weekend, you are far from the city, but the city is not so far from you. The feeling is the same, the world at the end of the XIX century had still a quiet pace, it was a world of baking cakes at home and doing chores in the barn, actually not so different from the life you can see in some places in the world.

Bryn is the bad boy of this novel: young and pretty, he had the bad luck to be born in the house of a drunken man who never cares for him, and when his mother died, Bryn was all alone. Nobody wondered when he was framed for raping a young girl and sent to prison. To the great surprise of the townfolks, when his conviction ends, Bryn comes back home. The only person who is willing to hire him is Reverend Ian, a man that even before Bryn always looked upon as a good man. But while Bryn was in prison, Ian changed: his wife killed herself soon after murdering their newborn child, and Ian was never the same after that. He lost his faith, and only the cares of Mrs Robson, his housekeeper, keep him going. Despite that Ian hires Bryn, since he sees in the boy's eyes the desperation of not having anything and anyone in the world.

It's a mutual need that brings Ian and Bryn together: Ian is searching for the family he lost, and Bryn for the lover he always dreamed. Even before going in prison, Bryn had "unclean" thoughts on the pious reverend, and his experience in prison only let him with the knowledge that sex between men is possible, but that is a dirty act. Bryn can't possible believe that the perfect Ian is willing to have a relationship with him.

Actually I think that, from Ian's side, there is more the need to protect and having someone to care of than love; it's strong, I know, but I felt like Ian was more a pater familiae than a lover for Bryn. He wants to protect Bryn, he wants to hide him from the ugly thing that is the outside world, and if to do so he has to be Bryn's lover, to fulfill even that side of Bryn's need, than so it be. There is an hole in Ian's past, something I didn't catch quite well: why he became a Reverend? he was from a wealthy family, from what I gathered he had a strict upbringing, but actually I didn't find in him the fire that usually lit a man of faith, even if that fire is smothered by a tragic event. To me Ian seemed more like a man with an extreme need to love and care for people, but not in a religious way, but actually in a very personally way, he needs the feeling to be part of a family, to be whole again. In a way Ian is too selfish to be a good reverend.

On the other hand, Bryn is eager as well, but not for something he lost, but for something he never had; Bryn wants a family, and at first he is willing to barter his body for that. All he knows is that his body is the only worthy thing he has, and that using it he can have shelter and protection. I really think that, with his behavior, in a way he corrupted Ian. I don't think Ian would have ever thought to that possible evolution of their relationship if not for Bryn's attempt to "pay" him for his kindness. Or at least not so soon. I think it's an obvious conclusion of both men's predisposition: Bryn is gay, and he is young, and he has needs; Ian wants to take care of Bryn, and of Bryn's needs, any of them.

I like also how the author dealt with the townfolks, not like they were living in a fairy land where the good Reverend can do everything he wants. There is not easy acceptance from who find out, but more a resignation, like they understand that is not something they can fight. I think this is a righter attitude than some other quite unbelievable situation I read in similar gay historical romances. Said that, the author is quite conscious that she is writing a romance, and a romance has to be romantic, even if it's not realistic. Again, I think that Jan Irving does know well the art of writing a romance with that old fashioned taste of my teenager memories.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=55_108&products_id=1561

Amazon: The Hired Man

Amazon Kindle: The Hired Man

The Rainbow Awards: First Week results: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/811346.html

Cover Art by Paul Richmond