Harmer John; An Unworldly Story

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By Listen TheBook Posted on Jun 1, 2023

In Category - Literary Fiction, Published 1900 onward

Authors: Hugh Walpole In Year : 1926

Book Language: English

Audiobook: Harmer John; An Unworldly Story

Book 1: His Arrival: Chapter 1 How He Came To Our Town On A Stormy Night And Found Unexpectedly A Home
Chapter 2 The Reverend Tom At Home And Abroad
Chapter 3 From Gabrielle Midgeley's Diary - 1
Chapter 4 Portrait Of The Hero
Chapter 5 Friendship: March Weather
Chapter 6 The Sisters
Chapter 7 The Birthday Party
Chapter 8 Four Men
Chapter 9 Mary's Return
Chapter 10 Seatown Caves
Book 2: Of How He Stayed With Us: Chapter 1 In The Upper Air - Popularity
Chapter 2 The First Lecture
Chapter 3 From Gabrielle Mideley's Diary - 2
Chapter 4 Life And Death Of A Crisis
Chapter 5 Summer Night
Chapter 6 The Quarrel
Chapter 7 Gabrielle Midgeley's Diary - 3
Chapter 8 Seatown Fantasy
Chapter 9 The Last Lecture
Book 3: How He Left Us: Chapter 1 Alone
Chapter 2 The Watchers
Chapter 3 Penethen Interlude
Chapter 4 October 7: On The Hill
Chapter 5 October 7: Life And Death
Chapter 6 Miss Midgeley Revisits

Hjalmar Johanson (novel, 1926) is a boyish unworldly Swedish body builder come to Walpole’s fictional cathedral town of Polchester. His name is “simplified” by the townsfolk to Harmer John. He is attracted to Polchester by the cathedral. He has a vision of transforming the town and its populace to a healthier and more beautiful state. He establishes a business, essentially a gymnasium, to help people become healthier. He envisions tearing down the slums along the river and rebuilding the area with more attractive and publicly healthier buildings. But not everyone shares his vision, especially the slumlords who make their money by renting the slum to those who are poor and vulnerable, those unable to afford anything better. Harmer John encounters xenophobia, jealousy, and malice. In an earlier story Walpole novelized the Francis Thompson poem The Hound Of Heaven about a fearful soul pursued by an insistently loving God. Some observers see in Harmer John a parallel to Francis of Assisi, that is, a naïve holy man opposed by the selfish worldliness around him. - Summary by david wales