The Hard Man of the Swings

The Hard Man of the Swings (2000) by Jeanne Willis is a young adult historical novel set in England in the late 1940s and 1950s, just after World War II. The novel follows the childhood experiences of Mick, whose relationship with his parents becomes increasingly toxic and difficult until it ends in a moment of profound violence. The novel deals with the trauma and abuse of children in working-class England during this period, depicting a world torn apart by the devastation of the Second World War.

The novel opens in the late 1940s. England has been torn apart during World War II, despite coming out victorious—the post-war economy is struggling, and the country has to spend millions of dollars on repairing the bombed-out structures destroyed by Germans during the war. For people without much disposable income, stable jobs, or who lost their homes, this period is particularly tumultuous.

This is the world that young Mick finds himself living in. Not yet a teenager, he has already seen much of the grittiness of the world. He lives in an abusive home, where his parents regularly keep secrets from him, not just about minor situations, but about life-altering events. Mick feels both excluded and unsupported by his parents' inability to understand him as a person with thoughts, desires, and needs. The neglect he experiences is profound and painful.



Mick's problems with his mother are numerous, but the most painful moment comes when he has a vivid dream that his younger sister disappears. In the dream, Mick sees his mother sell her own baby, Mick's infant sibling, to the rag and bone man, a wandering scrapper who will take anything of minor value that families no longer have use for. This dream is symbolic of real trauma in Mick's life. His sister dies, tragically and suddenly; her disappearance from the household is never mentioned or explained by Mick's mother, leaving Mick to wonder what happened to his sister for the rest of his life.

The central conflict of the novel comes when Mick is forced to live with his biological father. Though life with his mother had had its challenges, Mick's father is violent, manipulative, and scheming. Before long, Mick discovers the selfish and nefarious reason his father agreed to take him in. Rattled by his violent home life and feeling increasingly trapped in a life he can't control, Mick decides to take action at the end of the novel.

Willis begins the novel with its tragic end and works up to it—Mick reveals in the first lines of the book that he may or may not have murdered his father. He is not sure if a man can die from being shot by a .22 rifle. Mick's decision to move toward violence to protect himself from his father becomes increasingly reasonable as Willis builds up Mick's sad life. By the end of the book, Mick's black humor and the tragedy of his childhood make the novel's violent end feel like a well-deserved vindication.



Born in Saint Albans, England, Willis now lives in London with her family. She is the author of several books for children, including The Monster Bed, the Dr. Xargles Book of... series, published from 1988 to 2004, and Shamanka, among other novels. She was also a contributor to the authorized sequel of Winnie-the-Pooh. She has won two Red House Children's Book Awards. The Hard Man of the Swings was the winner of the 2001 North East Book Awards.