Synopsis
Covers the whole plot, including the ending.
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Pacing
- Slow
- Mood
- Atmospheric, Melancholy, Suspenseful, Reflective
- Read it if
- You enjoy atmospheric literary fiction with a slow-burn mystery, exploring the psychological aftermath of war and the complexities of collective memory.
- Skip it if
- You prefer fast-paced thrillers or clear-cut resolutions to mysteries.
The Hired Man Plot Summary
Covers the whole plot, including the ending.
A Stranger in Gost
Duro, a man living in Gost, is hunting when he sees an unfamiliar car, a rare sight in his isolated village. He later sees the people: a British woman named Laura and her two children, Grace and Marcus. They have bought a run-down house that Duro knows well from his youth, a house with a troubled past. At first, Duro watches them from a distance, curious about their presence and their plans for the old, neglected property.
Offering Assistance
Duro, feeling both curious and responsible, approaches Laura and offers to help with the house, especially with the broken water pump. Laura, cautious at first, accepts his offer. Duro quickly proves very useful, fixing problems, making repairs, and generally making the house livable for the family's summer stay. He starts visiting daily, becoming a trusted handyman and a quiet friend to Laura, who finds it hard to renovate an old house in a foreign country.
Uncovering the Mosaic
Laura's daughter, Grace, is very interested in the house's history. While exploring, she finds a section of plaster in the courtyard that seems to hide something. With Duro's encouragement and help, they begin carefully chipping away the plaster, revealing parts of a beautiful, detailed mosaic. This act of uncovering becomes a main activity for Grace and a symbolic one for Duro, who feels a strong connection to the house and its hidden past, knowing the mosaic holds more than just art.
Village Hostility
As Laura and her children settle in, Gost's residents react with a mix of curiosity and clear hostility. They view the outsiders with suspicion, gossiping about their reasons for being there and their presence in a house that holds difficult memories for the community. Duro notices the cold looks and whispered comments, understanding the tension better than Laura does. He tries to protect the family from the worst of it, often stepping in or changing the subject to avoid the villagers' clear dislike, but the mood in Gost remains tense.
Duro's Past and the House's History
Through Duro's thoughts and memories, the story begins to show his past. The house Laura now lives in belonged to a young woman named Masa's family, whom Duro loved deeply before the war. He remembers their time together, the beauty of the mosaic, and the life they imagined. These flashbacks sharply contrast with the present, highlighting the deep loss and unresolved sadness Duro carries, directly linked to the house and the war.
The War's Shadow
As Duro and Grace continue uncovering the mosaic, and as Laura tries to understand the local ways, the shadow of the Croatian War of Independence grows larger. The villagers' unwillingness to talk about the past, combined with Duro's own painful memories, suggests that something terrible happened in Gost during the conflict. The fate of Masa and her family, the house's original owners, becomes a central, unspoken mystery, with Duro holding the key to the painful truth of their disappearance, which is closely tied to the house.
The Unveiling
Grace, with Duro's patient guidance, eventually uncovers the entire mosaic in the courtyard. What is revealed is a beautiful, detailed design, but also one that is subtly damaged, showing the violence it witnessed. The act of fully revealing it is symbolic, bringing to light not only the artwork but also the hidden history and the unspoken trauma within the house and community. For Duro, seeing it fully exposed is a powerful, emotional moment, making him face the past he has tried to keep separate.
Duro's Confession
Overwhelmed by the memories brought up by the house and the mosaic, Duro can no longer stay silent. He tells Laura, slowly and painfully, about the war and what happened to Masa and her family. He reveals that Masa's family, being ethnic Serbs, were targeted during the conflict. Duro, under pressure and facing impossible choices, was forced to take part in their displacement, an act that has haunted him since. He explains the complex and brutal realities of wartime decisions and the shared guilt that still affects Gost.
Laura's Reaction and Understanding
Laura is deeply shocked and upset by Duro's confession. The peaceful summer vacation she imagined for her family breaks apart as she faces the brutal realities of war and its lasting impact in Gost. She struggles to reconcile the kind, helpful man she knows Duro to be with the painful details of his past actions and the village's shared involvement. Despite her initial horror, Laura begins to understand the deep trauma that has shaped Duro and the community, recognizing the human cost of conflict.
The Village's Collective Memory
The novel examines how communities remember, showing how Gost chose to hide its wartime atrocities under a normal appearance and economic growth. The villagers' hostility toward outsiders comes from their fear that their carefully kept silence will be broken. Duro's story highlights the individual burdens of this shared forgetting, and how Laura and her family's arrival, by accidentally revealing the past, forces the community to confront what it has tried so hard to forget. The mosaic symbolizes this buried truth.
Reconciliation and Departure
After telling his story, Duro feels a sense of relief, though the pain of his past remains. Laura, having gained a deeper, though darker, understanding of Gost, prepares for her family's departure. The summer has changed them all; Grace's innocence has been touched by history, and Laura's view of human nature and conflict has expanded. While the war's scars in Gost are far from healed, Duro's honesty opens a small door to possible future healing, both within himself and perhaps, eventually, within the village.
The Hired Man Characters
Duro
Protagonist
A haunted Croatian villager grappling with wartime guilt and a lost love.
Duro is a middle-aged man living in the remote Croatian village of Gost. He is a hunter, a skilled handyman, and a quiet, observant individual. Beneath his unassuming exterior lies a profound sorrow and a heavy burden of guilt stemming from his experiences during the Croatian War of Independence. He was deeply in love with Masa, the former occupant of the house Laura buys, and was forced to make impossible choices during the conflict that led to the disappearance of her family. He is loyal, protective, and deeply connected to the land and its history.
Relationships: Laura (Employer/employee, confidant, a catalyst for confession); Grace (Mentor/student in uncovering the mosaic, a symbol of innocent curiosity); Masa (Lost love, a ghost from the past whose memory haunts him)
Laura
Supporting
A British woman seeking a peaceful summer retreat, unknowingly unearthing a village's dark secrets.
Laura is a British woman who buys a dilapidated house in Gost, hoping for a quiet summer with her two children, Grace and Marcus. She is initially depicted as somewhat naive and sheltered, unfamiliar with the complexities of the local culture and history. Practical but often overwhelmed by the challenges of renovating the house, she relies heavily on Duro's help. She is perceptive and compassionate, eventually proving capable of confronting uncomfortable truths about human nature and the legacy of war.
Relationships: Duro (Employer/employee, recipient of his confession, a moral compass); Grace (Mother/daughter, shares a journey of discovery); Marcus (Mother/son)
Grace
Supporting
Laura's curious daughter, who unwittingly triggers the unraveling of Gost's hidden history.
Grace is Laura's daughter, a curious and observant child. She is fascinated by the old house and its potential, showing a particular interest in the hidden mosaic. Her innocent persistence in uncovering the mosaic acts as a catalyst for revealing the village's buried past. She forms a close bond with Duro, who patiently guides her in her discoveries. Grace represents youthful innocence and the uncorrupted desire for truth, providing a stark contrast to the adult world's complicity and silence.
Relationships: Duro (Student/mentor, co-discoverer of the mosaic); Laura (Daughter/mother, shares a journey of discovery)
Masa
Mentioned
Duro's lost love, whose memory and fate are central to the village's hidden history.
Masa is a young woman, of Serbian ethnicity, who was Duro's beloved before the war. She lived in the house that Laura later purchases. Her memory haunts Duro, and her tragic disappearance during the war is the central mystery that the novel gradually unravels. She represents lost love, the innocence destroyed by conflict, and the human cost of ethnic strife. Her fate is a stark reminder of the atrocities committed in Gost and the deep-seated guilt carried by many of its residents.
Relationships: Duro (Lost love, a profound and formative relationship)
Marcus
Supporting
Laura's son, who experiences the summer through the lens of a typical child.
Marcus is Laura's young son, Grace's brother. He is less engaged with the house's history or the village's secrets than his sister. He is more focused on typical childhood activities, providing a contrast to the weighty themes explored by Grace and Duro. His presence underscores the idea of childhood innocence, though he is still indirectly exposed to the changing atmosphere and the unspoken tensions in Gost.
The Villagers of Gost
Supporting
The collective residents of Gost, who embody the village's complicity and silence regarding its wartime past.
The villagers of Gost are presented as a collective entity, characterized by their insularity, suspicion towards outsiders, and a shared, unspoken pact of silence regarding the war. They are wary of Laura and her family, fearing that their presence will disturb the fragile peace and expose their collective guilt. While individual villagers are not deeply explored, their collective demeanor and actions create an atmosphere of underlying tension and hostility, reflecting the profound trauma and selective memory of the community.
Relationships: Duro (Fellow villager, one who carries their shared burden); Laura (Outsiders, objects of suspicion)
The Hired Man Themes
The Lingering Trauma of War
The novel explores how the Croatian War of Independence still affects individuals and communities decades later. The war's impact is not just historical but deeply personal, seen in Duro's guilt, the villagers' shared silence, and the physical scars on the land and buildings. The story shows how unresolved trauma can worsen, shaping interactions, creating suspicion, and preventing true healing. What happened to Masa's family and Duro's involvement are direct results of this trauma, showing how easily ordinary people can be drawn into terrible acts during conflict.
“What happens in a war is not what you read in the books, not what they tell you in the newspapers. It is not something you can explain.”
Memory and Forgetting
A main theme in the novel is memory – how it is formed, suppressed, and eventually faced. The villagers of Gost actively engage in shared forgetting, covering up the past (literally, with the mosaic) to keep a fragile peace. Duro, however, is weighed down by his memories, which he struggles to keep buried. Laura and Grace's arrival, with their innocent curiosity, brings these hidden memories to the surface, challenging the community's carefully built amnesia. The mosaic itself is a strong symbol for buried truth.
“People in Gost, they don't like to talk about the old days. They like to forget. But forgetting is not the same as not knowing.”
The Burden of Guilt and Complicity
The novel looks at the complex nature of individual and shared guilt during wartime. Duro carries great personal guilt for his actions and inactions concerning Masa's family, showing the impossible choices ordinary people face in extreme situations. The villagers of Gost share in the guilt, their silence and hostility coming from a shared knowledge of what happened. The story asks questions about responsibility, survival, and the moral compromises made during conflict, suggesting that guilt can be a silent, damaging force that shapes entire communities.
“Sometimes, doing nothing is the worst thing of all. Sometimes, doing something bad is the only way to survive.”
The Outsider's Perspective
Laura and her family are the 'outsiders' whose fresh perspective and lack of past knowledge accidentally reveal the village's secrets. Their initial innocence about Gost's past lets them ask questions and uncover truths that locals are too afraid or unwilling to face. This outsider view highlights the community's isolation and how hard it is to break into deeply ingrained historical stories. Ultimately, Laura's journey changes her from an unaware tourist into someone who witnesses deep human suffering and strength, forever changing her understanding of the world.
“You come here, you see the sun, the sea. You think it's just a pretty place. But under the ground, there are other things.”
The Nature of Home and Belonging
The house itself is a central symbol, representing home, loss, and the disputed nature of belonging. For Masa's family, it was their ancestral home, violently taken from them. For Duro, it represents lost love and a painful past. For Laura, it is initially a dream of a peaceful escape, which then becomes a way to a darker history. The novel explores how war can redefine who belongs to a place, who has a right to call it home, and how the physical spaces we live in carry the echoes of those who came before.
“A house remembers. It holds the echoes of laughter, and of screams.”
Plot Devices & Literary Techniques
The Hidden Mosaic
A physical object symbolizing buried truths and the process of uncovering them.
The mosaic, plastered over in the house's courtyard, is a powerful central symbol and plot device. Its discovery and gradual uncovering by Grace and Duro directly mirrors the slow, painful revelation of Gost's wartime secrets. As the plaster is chipped away, fragments of beauty and damage are revealed, symbolizing the fragmented and often brutal truth of the past that the community has tried to conceal. It serves as a tangible link to Masa's family and the atrocities committed, driving the narrative forward by literally unearthing history.
Flashbacks and Fragmented Memories
Non-linear narrative elements used to gradually reveal Duro's past and the war's events.
The novel employs flashbacks, primarily through Duro's internal thoughts and memories, to gradually piece together the events of the war and his relationship with Masa. These memories are often fragmented, reflecting the nature of trauma and the difficulty of confronting painful pasts. This non-linear storytelling creates suspense, as the reader slowly gains insight into the 'before' and 'during' of the war, contrasting it with the 'after' of the present day. It allows the author to control the pacing of revelations and deepen the mystery surrounding Gost's history.
The Outsider as Catalyst
A character whose unfamiliarity with a setting's history inadvertently triggers revelations.
Laura and her children, as British outsiders, serve as catalysts for the plot. Unburdened by the village's historical trauma or social codes, their innocent questions and actions – particularly Grace's desire to uncover the mosaic – disrupt the established silence. Their presence forces Duro to confront his past and the villagers to react to the potential exposure of their secrets. This device allows the author to explore the themes of collective memory and guilt through the eyes of someone detached from the direct events, making the revelations more impactful.
The Dilapidated House
A setting that embodies the decay and hidden history of the village.
The house Laura purchases is more than just a setting; it is a character in itself, embodying the decay, neglect, and hidden history of Gost. Its broken water pump, overgrown garden, and plastered-over mosaic all symbolize the village's attempt to cover up its past. As Laura and Duro work to restore it, they are not just fixing a building but symbolically confronting and processing the trauma embedded within its walls. The house's former occupants and their tragic fate are intrinsically linked to its present state, making it a powerful symbol of loss and remembrance.
The Hired Man Quotes
“Memory is a house with many rooms, and sometimes we choose to close the door on some of them.”
“The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
“Sometimes the greatest truths are found in the silences, in what is not said.”
“Grief is a landscape you walk through alone, even when others walk beside you.”
“Everyone has a version of the truth. The trick is to find the one that fits.”
“The earth remembers. It keeps its secrets until someone digs deep enough.”
“You can bury the dead, but you can't bury the past.”
“Fear makes people do terrible things, and then it makes them forget.”
“There are some things you carry with you, like stones in your pocket, no matter how far you travel.”
“History is not what happened, but what is remembered.”
“The hardest part is not finding the truth, but accepting what it means.”
“Sometimes, the quietest people hold the loudest stories.”
“A house, like a person, can hold many secrets within its walls.”
“The landscape knew more than the people living on it.”
Quiz
10 questions on the plot and the characters. Each answer comes with a short explanation.
Question 1
What is the name of the protagonist who offers his assistance to the new family in Gost?
- Ivan
- Duro
- Marko
- Petar
Show answer
B. Duro Duro is the protagonist who first encounters the strange car and later offers his help to Laura and her children with their summer cottage.
Question 2
Where does Laura, the British woman, and her children decide to take up residence for the summer?
- A newly built villa
- Duro's own house
- A house Duro knows well
- A hotel in the town center
Show answer
C. A house Duro knows well Laura and her children take up residence in a house that Duro knows well, which becomes central to the unfolding secrets.
Question 3
What specific feature do Duro and Laura's daughter, Grace, begin to uncover and restore at the house?
- An old painting
- A hidden cellar
- A mosaic in the front
- A forgotten garden
Show answer
C. A mosaic in the front Duro and Grace work together to uncover and restore a mosaic in the front of the house that had been plastered over, symbolizing the uncovering of the town's past.
Question 4
What is the primary reason the other residents of Gost are not pleased to have Laura's family in town?
- They dislike foreigners in general.
- Laura is too demanding as a homeowner.
- The family unwittingly exposes the town's dark wartime secrets.
- They are jealous of the family's wealth.
Show answer
C. The family unwittingly exposes the town's dark wartime secrets. The core conflict arises from the new family's presence, particularly their restoration efforts, which bring the town's hidden wartime secrets into the light, leading to hostility.
Question 5
What historical event forms the backdrop for the secrets and tensions in the Croatian village of Gost?
- World War I
- The Cold War
- The War of Independence
- The Ottoman-Habsburg Wars
Show answer
C. The War of Independence The novel is set in a Croatian village after the War of Independence, and the lingering effects and secrets from this conflict are central to the story.
Question 6
How does Duro primarily try to protect Laura and her children from the growing hostility of the town?
- By convincing the townspeople to accept them
- By offering to buy the house back from Laura
- By being increasingly creative to shield them from the hostility
- By reporting the town's behavior to the authorities
Show answer
C. By being increasingly creative to shield them from the hostility As the town's hostility grows, Duro must become 'increasingly creative to shield the family' from it, suggesting a series of subtle and protective actions rather than direct confrontation.
Question 7
What specific role does Duro take on for Laura in addition to helping with the house?
- Her business partner
- Her trusted confidant
- Her language tutor
- Her tour guide
Show answer
B. Her trusted confidant Duro not only helps with getting the house ready but also serves as Laura's trusted confidant, indicating a deeper personal connection and a role in her understanding of the local situation.
Question 8
The novel is described as being 'haunted by lost love and a restrained menace.' How does this contribute to the overall atmosphere of the story?
- It creates a light-hearted, romantic comedy.
- It suggests a purely political thriller with no emotional depth.
- It builds a pervasive sense of unease and underlying tension.
- It focuses solely on the beauty of the Croatian landscape.
Show answer
C. It builds a pervasive sense of unease and underlying tension. The description 'haunted by lost love and a restrained menace' directly points to an atmosphere of underlying tension and unease, where past events and hidden dangers subtly influence the present.
Question 9
The book is compared to 'Disgrace' by J.M. Coetzee and 'Anil’s Ghost' by Michael Ondaatje. What common thematic element might these comparisons suggest for 'The Hired Man'?
- Exploration of post-colonial identity and reconciliation.
- The lasting impact of violence and trauma on individuals and societies.
- A focus on magical realism and fantastical elements.
- A lighthearted coming-of-age story.
Show answer
B. The lasting impact of violence and trauma on individuals and societies. Both 'Disgrace' and 'Anil's Ghost' are known for their powerful exploration of the aftermath of violence, trauma, and their lingering effects on individuals and national identity. This comparison suggests 'The Hired Man' delves into similar weighty themes.
Question 10
How does Duro's 'own past with the house’s former occupants' complicate his efforts to protect Laura's family?
- It makes him resent Laura for owning the house.
- It reveals him as a former owner who lost the house.
- His personal history is entangled with the very secrets the house holds, making him vulnerable and conflicted.
- He is legally bound to the former occupants, preventing him from helping.
Show answer
C. His personal history is entangled with the very secrets the house holds, making him vulnerable and conflicted. The text states Duro must be creative to shield the family from hostility AND 'his own past with the house’s former occupants,' implying his personal history is deeply intertwined with the house's secrets, creating a significant internal and external conflict.
The Hired Man FAQ
What is the central premise of 'The Hired Man'?
The novel centers on Duro, a Croatian man living in the village of Gost, who offers his services to Laura, a British woman who has bought a house in the village for a summer cottage. As Duro helps Laura and her children, Grace and Peter, he becomes entangled in the village's deep-seated secrets stemming from the Croatian War of Independence, particularly those connected to the house and its former occupants.
Who is Duro and what is his role in the story?
Duro is the protagonist, a seemingly simple 'hired man' from Gost who helps Laura with repairs and maintenance on her new house. However, he is much more than he appears, serving as the primary narrator and a key figure in protecting Laura and her children, while simultaneously revealing the village's dark past and his own complex history with the house and the war.
Who is Laura and why has she come to Gost?
Laura is a British woman who has purchased a house in Gost to use as a summer cottage for herself and her two children, Grace and Peter. She is an outsider, initially unaware of the village's history and the specific significance of the house she has bought, making her and her family unwitting catalysts for the uncovering of long-buried secrets.
What is the significance of the house Laura buys?
The house Laura buys is central to the novel's mystery. It was previously owned by a Bosniak family, the Begovics, who were displaced or disappeared during the war. Its purchase by an outsider like Laura, and the subsequent discovery of a hidden mosaic, forces the villagers, especially Duro, to confront the house's violent past and the atrocities committed there.
What role does Grace, Laura's daughter, play in the narrative?
Grace plays a crucial role in uncovering the past. She is the one who, with Duro's guidance, begins to restore the mosaic plastered over in the front of the house. Her curiosity and persistent efforts to reveal the mosaic inadvertently bring the house's history into the light, driving much of the plot's tension and discovery.
What is the true nature of Duro's connection to the house and the Begovic family?
Duro was deeply connected to the Begovic family, particularly their daughter, who was his lover. He was present during the wartime atrocities at the house, witnessing their deaths and being forced to participate in covering up the crimes. His role was not that of a simple bystander, but a traumatized survivor with a profound personal loss.
What is the significance of the mosaic that Grace and Duro uncover?
The mosaic is a powerful symbol of hidden history and memory. Its deliberate plastering over represents the village's collective attempt to bury uncomfortable truths about the war. Its uncovering by Grace, an innocent outsider, forces a confrontation with the violence and loss that transpired in the house and the community.
How does the village of Gost react to Laura's presence, and what does this reveal?
The village of Gost reacts with a mixture of suspicion, veiled hostility, and a desire to maintain silence around its past. Their discomfort with Laura, an outsider, and her restoration of the house reveals their collective guilt and complicity in the wartime events. They fear that her presence will expose the truths they have worked hard to conceal.
What does Duro's 'hired man' persona conceal about his character?
Duro's 'hired man' persona conceals a deeply traumatized and morally complex individual. He uses this unassuming role to observe, protect, and subtly manipulate events, while grappling with his own guilt, grief, and the profound secrets he carries. His outward simplicity belies his inner turmoil and his crucial role in the war's aftermath.
How does Laura's initial naiveté evolve throughout the story?
Laura's initial naiveté about Gost and its history gradually transforms into a dawning awareness of the village's hidden darkness. While she never fully comprehends the depth of the atrocities, her growing discomfort and the subtle warnings from Duro begin to chip away at her innocent perception, making her a proxy for the reader's own understanding.
How does the novel explore the psychological impact of war on a community?
The novel explores the psychological impact of war by depicting a community deeply scarred by trauma, guilt, and the burden of shared secrets. The villagers exhibit collective amnesia, hostility towards outsiders, and a pervasive sense of unease, demonstrating how unaddressed historical violence can fester and warp social dynamics for generations.
What is the nature of the relationship between Duro and Laura?
The relationship between Duro and Laura is complex and built on a foundation of unspoken truths. Duro sees Laura as a means to confront the past and perhaps find some redemption, while also feeling a paternal need to protect her and her children. Laura, in turn, trusts Duro implicitly, unaware of his true motivations and his deep connection to the house's history.
Is Duro a hero, a villain, or something more ambiguous?
Duro is profoundly ambiguous. He acts as a protector for Laura and her family, and his actions are driven by a deep sense of loss and a desire for the truth to emerge, making him sympathetic. However, his complicity in the initial cover-up and his manipulative secrecy also present a morally grey character, challenging easy categorization.
What is the book's stance on memory and forgetting in the aftermath of conflict?
The book argues that enforced forgetting or collective amnesia in the aftermath of conflict is unsustainable and ultimately destructive. The secrets of Gost, despite being buried, continue to haunt the present, suggesting that true healing and progress can only begin once the difficult truths of the past are acknowledged and confronted, however painful.
How does 'The Hired Man' use the setting of Gost to enhance its themes?
The remote, seemingly idyllic setting of Gost serves as a powerful contrast to the dark secrets it harbors. This juxtaposition highlights the pervasive nature of war's aftermath, showing how violence can infiltrate even the most beautiful landscapes. The village's isolation also emphasizes its insular nature and its collective desire to keep its secrets hidden from the outside world.
What is the significance of the novel's ambiguous ending regarding the ultimate fate of the secrets?
The novel's ambiguous ending suggests that while some truths have been brought to light, the full reckoning for the past is far from complete. The ongoing presence of the secrets, even if partially revealed, implies that the scars of war linger, and true closure is a long and arduous process, perhaps never fully attainable for a community deeply implicated in violence.
About the author
Aminatta Forna is a critically acclaimed novelist whose work often explores themes of identity, memory, and the legacy of conflict. Her notable novels include 'The Hired Man,' 'Ancestor Stones,' and 'Happiness,' which have garnered international praise for their lyrical prose and compelling narratives. Forna's writing is celebrated for its nuanced portrayal of characters navigating complex historical and personal landscapes.
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