A powerful five-volume story of a working-class Irish Catholic family in England by a "novelist of distinction and originality" (E. M. Forster).In five novels, published between 1935 and 1958, James Hanley chronicled the struggles of an Irish Catholic family of seafarers in a fictional port city based on Liverpool, evoking the harsh realities and frustrated longings of Britain's working class. The complete saga offers abundant proof that Hanley "is that rarity of r...

A boy returns home from seminary to a family on the verge of collapseFor almost seven years, Mrs. Fury has done nothing but think of Peter. Of her five children, he is the youngest, her darling boy whose future she planned out long ago. It was for Peter that she took one child out of college and married another off—for Peter that she sent a third to work at sea. She has sacrificed everything so that Peter could return to Ireland to study for the priesthood. He is to...

Alex, a divorced man in his mid-fifties, announces that he is escaping the stress and losses of his life by meeting with three women of his youth out of curiosity—but is that the real reason?Seeking escape from work fatigue and a loveless life, mid-fifties Alex sets out on an adventure to reconnect with three women of his past, telling his incredulous daughters he's satisfying curiosity, not on a quest to reignite romance. He locates and arranges a visit to the dis...

After a brief liaison ends, Navy Lieutenant Scott Oliver moves into an apartment of mostly enlisted couples and decides to mask his rank. Maintaining the deception becomes a challenge, especially as he develops friendships and begins a relationship with a beautiful visitor, who is initially hesitant after the recent death of her fiancé. The unexpected public revelation of his officer status thwarts his coming clean. The other tenants display their anger at the deception. The relationship w...

To escape a brutal life on the Liverpool docks, a boy runs away to seaArthur Fearon is nearly thirteen, and in the eyes of the law, that makes him a man. He wants to study to become a chemist, but his family cannot afford for him to continue school. The thought of a life working the docks makes Fearon break down in front of his classmates, but there is no time to cry. This boy has to get to work.The docks are hellish, and Fearon's first day is his last. He h...

After an elderly farmer dies, following an accident on a remote Welsh smallholding, he leaves the kingdom over which he had ruled so fiercely to his two daughters, Lucy and Cadi. As they prepare for the funeral, the novel—the last written by the prolific James Hanley—relates the events and experiences that made each sister what she is now: Lucy, the runaway, who fled the farm secretly and without warning, never to see the old man again, and Cadi, who promptly sacrificed her job as a teache...

In a lonely seaside town, a few misfits cling to one another for survivalNine months ago, Mrs. Gandell left Yorkshire behind. She invested what little money she had in a ramshackle inn off the coast of Wales, in a forgotten resort town called Garthmeilo. At the time, it was summer, light and warm. Now it is February, and the Welsh gloom has ground Mrs. Gandell's spirit to dust. Her only companion is Jones, a bitter handyman who delights in torturing his employer. No...

Trapped on shore, a captain fights desperately for a place on a shipOnce, Marius believes, the world was wide and the sea was infinite. Adventure and profit awaited any man bold enough to step aboard a ship and cast his lot with the open ocean.But those days are gone. After a long and undistinguished career, Marius's reputation suffers an irreparable blow during the dark days of World War II when he refuses to go down with a sinking ship. It is the greatest...

Romantic Morsels features snippets of poetry, flash fiction and short stories for when you simply want a little nibble of a scene a little less ordinary.Zimbell House Publishing is committed to helping new writers become quality authors.

To sustain her family, Mrs. Fury buries herself in debtAt the top of the hill on the north side of town, Mrs. Ragner rules over her kingdom. A bitter old loan shark, she has a grip on all the families in this port city, and she squeezes each one for every last cent. For seven years, Mrs. Fury has borrowed money from Mrs. Ragner to send her son Peter to seminary. He never joined the priesthood, but the debt still stands. When she is unable to pay back her loan, Mrs....

Five shipwrecked passengers fight panic, thirst, and the sea itselfOne minute, sailor Joseph Curtain is in his bunk. The next, he is submerged in the ocean. A German torpedo has struck the Aurora, and she is sinking fast. Curtain makes his way to a lifeboat and guides the survivors aboard. There are only six of them, and when the submarine's machine gun rakes the side of their boat, the number dwindles to five. Alongside Curtain are three men of various cha...

War has come to England, and the Furys soldier onDesmond Fury calls himself a working man, but it has been years since he put in a full shift. A brutally arrogant union leader, he longs to escape the working class and sees World War II as his ticket to better things. He is at a banquet for war recruiters, savoring the atmosphere of refinement, when a call comes from the hospital that drags him right back into the mud.His mother, the indomitable Mrs. Fury, h...