The taming of Nan

"The taming of Nan" by Ethel Carnie Holdsworth is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set between an industrial Lancashire town and its surrounding farms, it centers on the volatile Nan Cherry, her long-suffering porter husband Bill, their impressionable daughter Polly, and the principled young farmer Adam Wild. The story explores domestic tyranny, working-class life, superstition, and the pull between town freedoms and country discipline as a family crisis forces reckonings and choices.

The opening of The taming of Nan plunges into a raw dawn scene where Nan’s relentless rage collides with Bill Cherry’s patient strength until a violent flare-up ends their bout and he leaves for work, only for Nan to “sweep him out” with salt and a whispered spell. Nearby, Adam Wild guards his prize wheat from trespassers; a moonlit prank brings Polly and her friends into his field, and after he breaks up their rough play, a humiliating scuffle ends with Adam vengefully kissing Polly before driving her off. That night Polly returns home late to a desolate kitchen and Granny Harker’s stern comfort, only to learn Bill has lost his legs in a rail accident, a shock that exposes the household’s fragility and Polly’s naive restlessness. The section closes as the Cherry clan organizes a bring-your-own feast to welcome Bill back from hospital, revealing a chorus of kin—pious, practical, and comic—poised around the stricken family.