Depicts the life of the Fury family at a crucial moment - the return of the youngest son, coming home after being thrown out of his seminary in Ireland. His return, and the return of the other brother, crippled in an accident, bring to the surface the resentments and frustrations of the family.

The Secret Journey is the second in the Furys five volume saga. Again, Fanny Fury, the mother of the Liverpool Irish family, is the dominant character. She has fallen on such hard times she is forced to borrow a few pounds from a moneylender; her debt accumulates, and gradually the whole of the Fury family become caught in the net. This is the main theme of the book but much else happens besides.

Our Time is Gone is the third book in the five novel Furys sequence. Complete in itself and published in 1940, it is set during the First World War. 'It is refreshing to turn to the really great novel called Our Time is Gone. Here is something worthwhile. The sustained power, the prolific life, with which Mr Hanley has filled these pages are astonishing.' Evening Standard