HIRAETH.

by Haydn Wilks

A “talentless, misguided d******d” attempts to make being “Welsh & desperate” seem “sexy” against the backdrop of a global pandemic.


The Main Character (Welsh, Virgo, ENTP, emo, 32, M) leaves the decadent neo-colonialist lifestyle of an English-as-a-Foreign-Language Teacher for the workshy millennial ideal of life as a digital nomad.


A quick visit to Wales becomes months and months and etc. of escalating and easing lockdowns, marathon video chats, Valleys bike rides & ticket-free train travel, socially-distanced booze & weed sessions, and legally-questionable house and shed visits with his Dad & the Boys, mental disequilibrium fuelling an obsession with becoming a generation-defining best-selling author:


the Welsh Irvine Welsh, the ginger Jack Kerouac, the broke Bret Easton Ellis, the homebound Hunter S Thompson, writing Fear & Loathing in the Living Room:

a Tao Lin-eclipsing autofictional Voice of His Generation.



hiraeth [n.] [Welsh] an intense sense of longing for your homeland.


HIRAETH. [alt] [ALL CAPS.] the existential moron's lockdown novel; Proust-like chronicling of life during a once-in-a-century viral outbreak - novel autofiction exploiting the millions dead from a novel virus to bring its author closer to enablement of his delusions than ever before.

712 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 23, 2023

About the author

The Welsh Irvine Welsh. The ginger Jack Kerouac.
The broke Bret Easton Ellis.
The Sartre of the South Wales Valleys.
A cynical millennial author from Wales whose immense literary talent is only outsized by his overwhelming sense of entitlement.

HAYDN WILKS’ novels include the infanticidal indictment of low-wage late capitalist UK call centers COLD CALLING, the drug-guzzling cryptocurrency-fuelled global sex crime spree of MOON BOYS (a.k.a. $HITCOIN), and the self-aggrandizing / self-loathing gonzo autofictional lockdown novel HIRAETH.

Reviews

[Catalina Eni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having previously read "$hitcoin", I embarked on the journey of reading "Hireath." being quite curious and enthousiastic, especially given the subject matter. Despite the 600 pages, it is a fairly easy and enjoyable read, although I believe a more concentrated version (~300) may have been a tad more exciting. Then again, there really was nothing exciting about the pandemic and the lockdown... Although I felt it at times to be a bit redundant, through the constant enumeration of basic daily activities (that repeated themselves to a dot), all in all I did get attached to the main character and could not bare to not find out the outcome of his story.

[Brett Ortiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
I’m going to address a complaint that others may have in the future regarding the author “telling” and not “showing” certain conversations and events: I believe that it was done to help move the narrative along so that the important bits happen in a more natural way without jumping ahead and making the reader confused on how we got to the topic/location. The story is more about the author becoming financially stable and his Hiraeth to be where he feels home/escaping lockdown in Wales. Also the novel is long enough. If you want an autofiction where (at least to me) no conversation is skipped go read Knausgaard. Actually the two are similar in a few aspects so if you enjoyed Knausgaard you may also enjoy Wilks.
(Haydn will now likely order My Struggle, think Karl Ove is a narcissistic twat, and lambast me in some way).

Anyway, it was bold to publish a novel that takes place during the COVID lockdown and the following year(s) after. Especially since Covid is not gone and we’re still dealing with the effects. However the magic of the novel is that the author’s experience likely mirrors most others experience during that time. I found myself sympathetic and relating a lot with the author. There are also some great bits of writing/thought’s throughout the novel. For instance there’s a section where the author starts off talking about Punk music making a comeback that turns into a reflection about society.

Even though I received the book for free from the author in an exchange for a review I do intend to buy Hiraeth physically (when it releases in July this year) because I do genuinely like it and prefer physical. I may also just be a slut for autofiction these days

A few extra notes:
I liked the cheekiness of saying that he will never use ampersands again and then immediately uses it.
I’m an ignorant American and learned some history of Wales after looking up why everyone kept referring to each other as “butt”
Related to being an ignorant American; it was interesting to read how much the author watches the news about America (primarily the election stuff) and discusses it with friends and family. Not once did Brexit nor Boris Johnson enter a conversation with my peers. However I don’t watch the news nor read a paper, but I do consume media online so I’m not wholly ignorant of what was happening over there.

[JK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was wondering how long it would take for a Covid lockdown novel to cross my path. I had assumed it would be a predictable crime mystery where some poor sap was murdered whilst no one was permitted to leave the house. Not so with Wilks. Here, we’re given an autofictional account of his time in lockdown; a memoir, but not. I was interested immediately - particularly in the title. Hiraeth is a Welsh word which conveys a feeling of homesickness, not always for home, but for something one has lost or is missing. Gorgeous, and an apt word to describe Wilk’s feelings and experiences throughout the novel.

Initially, this was engrossing. Seeing our protagonist shuffle home to Wales after living and working in East Asia gripped me. There are always notable cultural differences when you move home from abroad, but to see these combined with restrictions on movement and seeing other people was quite unnerving.

Boredom and repetition strike quickly for our man, as his days become duplicates of each other. Although incredibly relatable, and quite possibly intended, they did bleed into each other and significantly dropped my absorption levels.

What struck me most here was how similar our lockdown lives were, and indeed this will be the case for many. Boring days at home, desperate attempts to change the status quo, having nothing else to do but ponder life, society, politics, and upcoming oblivion. There were even some thoughts and opinions I didn’t know I had - put into such words I don’t believe I’d be capable of myself.

The isolation aspect did feel depressing, and I felt for him throughout the novel. Often in books, you wonder how a character coped, but there was an odd feeling here of a common struggle. We all went through this; the world struggled together, yet each of us were caged in.

A voueurstic rove around someone else’s lockdown - something I didn’t know I’d be interested in, but which I’ve taken a good deal from.

[Chris Berko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Haydn's novel $hitcoin and was pretty excited to get into this one. I can't speak for anyone else and who knows what percentage of this novel is truth but I found myself relating to the main character more and more as the novel progressed. The weird self-talk, the sense of alienation from everyone and everything and the stretches of boredom that just increases the need for self-medicating. The main character goes from person to person bar to bar house to house sometimes even shed to shed during the lockdowns while trying to stay sane, sometimes to success. The characters are all real and distinct and are all probably based on the author's friends IRL. The interactions are great, the opinions varied, and conversations believable. This book reminded me of that movie from the 90s Slacker. If you don't know what I mean, read the book, watch the movie and you'll see. I enjoyed this thoroughly.

There are two types of people who talk all the time. One group are the ones who you constantly want to yell at to STFU because they just drone on and on and on... You hear the same stories from them, and they take 500 sentences to tell and 4 sentence story. The kind you RUN from at parties because they will monopolize your time until the end of time. The other ones are the people who are very interesting and who have knowledge of many different subjects and they actually have valuable insights and perspectives. Haydn seems to me to be the type of person to fall into the latter group. I like the stuff he talks about, and his stories may be long, but they are never boring or uninteresting.

This novel takes wandering aimlessly to astounding heights and the are no space battles or super-heroes, but it is funny enough, scary enough, interesting enough and relatable in the most intense and personal way that I flew through it in a few days. The author sent me a copy to review, but this is something I definitely would spend my money on.

[Haydn Wilks]

HIRAETH. - the existential moron's lockdown novel.

Releasing 23 July, 2023.

Some light reading to whet the appetite:

Every book mentioned in HIRAETH.

BookMark - HIRAETH. Review

Book Odyssey - HIRAETH. Review

[Tommy K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially I was apprehensive about reading a novel set during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown(s), *cue PTSD flashbacks and the Apocalypse Now soundtrack*, but having previously read an ARC for Wilks's earlier novel, $HITCOIN, he reached out to ask if I'd be willing to do it again for HIRAETH and I was intrigued.

The novel is auto fictional, which I have limited experience of, mostly Jonathan Ames and Karl Ove Knausgård, and this definitely hits the mark in every respect. The prose is engaging, the pacing tight enough, and the various tangents and streams of consciousness/thought processes weave in and out of the narrative seamlessly.

The page count is long, but then so was the lockdown(s). There are moments of tedium, just like in the lockdowns. But the novel is never boring. You're occupying the author avatar's mind and experiences, and the narrative voice is a strong, engaging one.

As a fellow millennial with big plans for the early years of the current decade, I completely related to the plight of the author avatar and just had to see what was going to happen next. Would love to see more auto fiction from Haydn in the future! 5/5

[Bibi Silvas · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I received an advance copy of HIRAETH and I was excited to read it since I enjoyed the last book I read from Haydn: $hitcoin. I started reading HIRAETH not knowing what it was about, and I quickly learned that the book was about a Welsh guy and his journey through the Covid crisis. There are parts of the book that I enjoyed but it was just too long. If the book was edited I think it would make for a better experience. But maybe that is the point of the book, Covid and the numerous lockdowns were long and sometimes very depressing (especially if you lived by yourself).

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

TL:DR – Although not overly familiar with the “autofiction” subgenre and not knowing what to expect, HIRAETH. was a pleasant surprise and worked on multiple levels for me. HIRAETH. was an oddly compelling account of life during lockdown, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the life of an author trying to make their mark in today’s world and dealing with all the trials and tribulations that goes along with it. Also, there’s lots of booze, drugs, some cats, and a mystery dildo.

Now then, for more of a deep dive:

Firstly, as a relatively straightforward account of someone’s experiences during the 2020-21 lockdowns, it was interesting to relive such a monumentally upheaving, yet also dull-as-fuck set of circumstances from someone else’s point of view. That is, not from the point of view of someone who isn’t a celebrity going insane in their mansions; making singalong videos with their celebrity mates within the first two weeks. Nor from the tragic point of view of someone who lost friends and loved ones to the virus. But an account from someone who probably represents the frustration, tedium, and dashed dreams of what could have been, that many of us went through and can undoubtedly relate to. There are times where it feels like reading the author’s diary of mundane tasks and hobbies, but it always felt like they served the wider narrative.

Beyond that, I found HIRAETH. to be a fascinating snapshot into what it’s like to be a thirty-something Millennial in today’s world, and the idea of longing for a home that isn’t necessarily the place where you are from. I particularly enjoyed Wilks’ musings on various social and political issues, his thoughts on music, friendship, and especially family and the themes of trying to connect with them across ever-widening generational pulls. Admittedly, it helps that I’m probably in many of the same circles of interest as the author, so naturally I found so much of the book relatable.

Next, HIRAETH. works as a commentary on Wilks’ previous novel $hitcoin (referred to as The Cryptocurrency Novel in this book); detailing the author’s finishing of the book, struggles with marketing, and dealing with the reaction from his readers. Personally, on top of genuinely enjoying it, $hitcoin was one of the books that encouraged me to get back into a proper reading routine during lockdown, so it was fascinating to get an insight into how it was finished and published. As an aside, I was also thrilled to see an excerpt from my $hitcoin review make it into the “About the Author” section.

Finally, HIRAETH. absolutely nails it as a study on the life of a “Creative” in general. Throughout the book Wilks is constantly on the hustle; mining his everyday experiences and personal flaws into literary gold, but also struggling with the crushing weight of your own expectations versus reality, dealing with constant mental health crises, rejections and lack of money. It’s about wanting the same level of respect and success as your heroes but also trying to do it the hard way.

It’s on that last level that HIRAETH. really hit home for me. Whether you’re an author, artist, musician, or anything in between driven by that “divine flame” of creativity, HIRAETH. is an essential read.

Many thanks to the author for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the start I really loved this. I could just relate so much to the character. Some of this is due to also being a digital nomad, and some due to liking the same music, but it's mostly just being from that generation I think.

Some lines were so spot on as to be scary. My grandparents also bought me up to "hate the Krauts" (to an extent) but now I love Germany. I've had similar conversations about Lost Prophets too.

I really like the idea that one freak random very smaller event could then cascade and change and really strongly affect your whole life. I had events like that in my teenage years, I'm sure most people do. But then the thing that I hadn't really thought about was how there might be a future inflection points the very strong so if you miss the initial small event that cascades you towards the inflection point then later on you will hit a different small event which will also take you to the same strong inflection point.

As the book went on I was really curious how the story was going to play out and whether it could hold my attention all the way through. At times the writing is kind of overly-detailed (about what is actually happening to the characters), but I actually quite liked that - it gave a sense of the lockdown. Having said that though - the middle section was basically just someone's diary - get pissed/stoned, see mates, play games, write a bit, go to Tescos, think about things. It became a bit repetitive for me but I wasn't sure if that was semi-intentional, either in a meta-American Psycho-style, or just with the more self-aware "look at what a narcissist I am" ironic, thing?
So personally I think it could've been shorter, but maybe that was a stylistic choice.

I've now added another of the author's books to my list - after already reading the Crypto book mentioned in this one (and it was nice to see behind the curtain about how that one was written promoted).

[Laura Ruetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is described as an autofictional novel and so I was not fully sure what to expect. I've read several books by this author, and each has a vastly different writing style, and all are absolutely original and definitely not easily defined. I loved Hiraeth. It's a hefty read, but the narrative is so engaging and it feels like you are having a conversation with the author. He holds nothing back in his thoughts, from the quality of American candy, to sports, and even the American presidential election. As such, it's less a novel with a plot, than an exploration of the author's mind and circumstances through the pandemic. If you are looking for something original, this is it. He really held nothing back in his narrative, going from endearing to eyebrow raising.

[MikeBy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I got a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

I was pleased to hear from Hayden asking if I was interested in reading Hireath after enjoying his $hitcoin novel. In the earlier part of this book Hayden writes about spamming Goodreads for reviewers, choosing people who liked Ryu Murakami. Aha, so that's how I got on his previous invite list. And at the same time, I felt like a part (OK, a very small part) of the new book, Hiraeth. Reading of his anxiously waiting for people to post reviews on $hitcoin, I was tempted to make a partial review before finishing but didn't.

Although the main character is much younger than me, we have a fair bit in common. Not the copious drinking and drugs, though. Still, enough similarities to feel connected, enough differences to be interesting. The style of storytelling reminded me of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, as far as I remember it (read in the late 1970s). The almost complete absence of action and excitement as the pandemic/Ivan Denisovich's sentence dragged on and on felt curiously captivating. I have no recall of how Solzhenitsyn's novel ended, but unfortunately, for me, Hireath ended about four chapters after it should have.

At one point, the main character is returning home, most pandemic restrictions having been lifted, saying this seems like the end of the story. He should have listened to himself.

From there on, I had to read about a scabby cat, suicidal ruminating—stop wasting all your money on crap weed and alcohol if being broke upsets you so much—and at the end, a dream job offer that...(avoiding spoiler here). Oh, and the worst of all was a trip to London that makes the main character just look like a fool.

I think some simple editing would make this book into a four-star, just by deleting the last few chapters.

I like the storytelling. The side-characters, although not entirely loveable—except for the dad, he's great—are relatable and interesting and after a while I felt like I knew some of them personally. There's lots of humor, and everything is completely believable. Once upon a time I imagined I was going to write a book something like this, but never did and never will. So, hats off to Hayden for achieving his goal of writing it, even if he hasn't yet achieved the fame and fortune the main character hoped for.

So, would I recommend it? As is, possibly not, unless you are able to put a book down when you've had enough of it. I finished it while in a hospital bed for two days. Otherwise, I may still have been trying to get through the last part. If there's another edition, without so much unwarranted self pity at the end, and less of the cat, I would give it closer to five stars.

[Thomas Harte · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like the Gonzo writing of Hunter S. Thompson there is much in this book that will delight you. It is written in the same edgy and at times manic style of auto fictional writing with lots of references to drugs and alcohol. I loved the music references and how these became part of the story. It is also a very modern novel, dealing as it does with the pandemic but also about the life and times of a digital nomad. I have read other work by this author and he is definitely out there on his own and this book places him as an edgy and decadent successor to the great Hunter S. Thompson. Amidst the mania, drug taking and alcohol sessions the book does manage to make serious comments on issues such as Brexit and the state of late capitalism. My favourite is the cheeseburger analogy of modern American life. I also liked how the relationship between the main character and his father evolves during the course of the book, and I loved the two cats. It’s quite a mad read, each chapter is subdivided into sections with often frequent references to music and bands. I discovered many Welsh bands that I had not heard of and new authors in the auto fictional genre. This is what I would describe as a rollicking read and I enjoyed it much more that Hayden’s previous work. It is very funny at times, particularly the ending when the central character is in London on his lockdown freedom break. It is a book for our times and beneath the craziness it deals with the unpredictability of modern life and the need to escape the clutches of the world we live in. It is a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe it’s not for everyone but if you like a bit of decadence, and a writing style that is full on, this is for you. Also if you like music and literature and how these artistic pursuits can be woven into the fabric of a piece of writing, this is also for you. I have not read some of the other literary references the author makes such as Tao Lin but I am a long standing fan of Hunter S. Thompson and this book uses much of the same manic energy present in Thompson’s work. A five star read from me.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through the pandemic I did little but read ...work a little,cycle and listen to music...the main problem with reading was every other book I read seemed to be pre-empting some sort of pandemic despite them being written prior to these events...and to be honest at that point I wished to escape the reality we were facing.
As such did I really need or want to read a book where the COVID pandemic loomed large?...turns out I did...If nothing else the books real-time monologues do help post pandemic, reflecting the madness of it it all..for me the post pandemic period has been the most troubling..I managed to embrace the solitude of the family unit...I needed the break from social stuff there was no need to go out to support someone's music night for instance ..as for travel?..well I'm not that type.
The sudden return to normality bypassing the new normal in honesty was something I couldn't comprehend and only now one breakdown later am I adjusting to it.
As such reading of a wildly different pandemic experience from mine was interesting ....there was also some commonality around the politics of the whole thing and places where I differed...interestingly on thinking back to the prose you do get a rounded view as the father in the book usually gives the opposite take ..not full daily mail but a foot in that camp.
It's a book that looks what was happening to people who travelled prior to this ..I think Henry Rollins covers this a little in his book 'sic' which this book has now given me a taste for.
What happens when your support work becomes fractured?..when your area is in a local lockdown?..when the world outside is now no longer one you recognise?
We all have different answers to those questions and this book answers them from a certain perspective and offers much to ruminate upon.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

March 2020 turned all our lives upside down. I went from a normal life to nursing a seriously ill spouse through covid, then spending five months furloughed on a sofa. Most of us had a similar tale. Haydn's protagonist tries to cope with the loss of his life as a globetrotting 'digital nomad' for being stuck in his dad's house in a small valleys town, his world shrunk to a few close friends who alternately keep him sane, and drive him potty. He perfectly captures the often mind-numbing boredom of lockdown in small town Wales, a continuous procession of booze, drugs, tedium and occasional fun, all the while balancing dealing with useless drug dealers, his Mum and her awful partner, two cats and his Dad, who often seems wiser than everyone else in the book. The title refers to that particularly Welsh thing of feeling a sense of loss, and a wish to return to a past that can't really be recovered; something I understand having left Wales in the 70s - whenever I return (And I always mythologise it a bit) Wales is never what I thought I left behind when I was sixteen. This is a long book, and there's quite a bit of repetition, but I do think that serves to heighten the feeling of the trapped, mindless boredom of lockdown.
I've enjoyed reading Hadyn's fiction, ever since I read 'Danny Daggers'. Every new book is different, while always retaining his own individual quirky style and sense of humour. This one doesn't have the madcap caper of Shitcoin or the increasingly dark feel of Cold Calling, but it is unmistakeably Haydn's work and captures Welsh life and humour perfectly. I've no doubt I'll reread it again at some point.

I should point out that I was given a free copy in return for a fair review.

[Guillem de Valles Ibáñez · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent autofictional lockdown novel in which the author provides a glimpse of his life and his mind during the COVID lockdown in Wales, after teaching English and travelling in different Asian countries. This book reflects some situations during the socially distanced life we had to endure for a few months, how isolation and its related behaviours affected us, and does so in an interesting and sometimes humorous way, with a gonzo writing style that fits very well the dichotomic main character, flowing and ebbing from narcissistic/empathetic traits, reacting to events with great hopes and soul-crushing depression, and an interesting post-emo point of view. I enjoyed especially the conversations with the main character's dad and the booze&weed-fueled reflections on society that sometimes end up transforming into long, cathartic rants; and also how at some points the book becomes delightfully meta and self-referencing.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about life during covid lockdowns is always going to be fairly divisive. Aside from the fact that virtually everyone who did so has strong feelings about what happened, there's also something of a split in terms of whether people want to move on quickly and forget or of they're happy to explore it even more. As someone in the latter category I was curious when Wilks mentioned he'd written a novel about the period I was curious. If you're the former? Probably give up now.

Still here? Okay, stay with me for a bit because, well, if you can't do that you stand no chance with the book. Because it's something like 650 pages long. Not the longest book you'll have read, but keep in mind the subject matter here. 650 pages allows a lot of room for a lot to happen. Epic stories can be told. Or, you can read about an awful lot of pizza and chicken orders (I think it will be months before I can even consider a Dominos after this), FIFA games, and very specific accounts of drinking. It is a slow and ponderous novel - which is oddly fitting and a surprisingly good quality for a book about holing up in rural Wales to ride out a global pandemic. It captures the general mood of the country at the time. It's weirdly able to capture boredom without actually becoming boring itself. I mean, it's not a high adrenaline thriller by any measure of the standard, but somewhere, and somehow, Wilks manages to find a story that actually works.

It's rough around the edges. So many self-published books are really. That can actually be the charm at times - and that's definitely true here. The urge would be to cut out so much of that repetition. It would have a brief set-up and then just focus on the commentary of larger events that intersperse it. You could probably get that book down to 250 pages. It would be a respectable account of the world at the time and many people could write variations of that book. By serving up the mundane Wilks gives a context those books would miss though. It's a book that feels more confident than previous efforts, and justifiably so.

At the risk of inflating his narcissistic ego - this feels like a coming of age for the author. It won't be universally loved, it's not the most accessible book you'll read any time soon and that will deter many. It was compulsive reading though. Not "I can't put this down - dinner can wait an hour" compulsive, I was fairy relaxed that I knew there would be a trip to Tesco before sitting in a shed within the next few pages, but there was a story that made me want to keep reading. This has the feel of a lowkey cult book. One that may suffer because of the probably finite window for covid based stories and never get a chance to shine. But it's also a book that feels like one day it could randomly blow up as the right person stumbles upon it and shines a deserving spotlight on it. Then it'll become some weird Netflix adaptation that I'll watch grumpily while bemoaning the first edition was the best version and get told I'm an annoying hipster.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haydn Wilks’ latest work will surely come to be one of the defining books of the Covid pandemic. It’s a remarkable piece of autofiction, one which I found strangely compelling, and a book that held my attention throughout. The author's account of his life in lockdown, a life very different from my own – he is a 30-something free-spirited young man whose alcohol and drug consumption is quite frankly astonishing, and whose main interests, apart from his writing, are computer games, music and his mates – nevertheless manages to bring along with it a universal application and is fully relatable to a wider demographic. The author’s freewheeling lifestyle in the Far East is brought to an abrupt halt with the advent of the pandemic and he returns to his native Wales. The title of the book, Hiraeth, is a Welsh word signifying and intense longing for the homeland, something that he doesn’t in fact feel. Month after month of restrictive lockdown wears away at him and his long-standing ambition to be a successful author is pitted against the mundane and imposed repetitive daily round. One of the difficulties about writing about Wilks’ work is that he often says things better than any reviewer can. In his own words, this is an “existential moron’s lockdown novel: Proust-like chronicling of life during a once-in-a-century viral outbreak – autofiction exploiting the millions dead….to bring its author close to enablement of his delusions than ever before”. Certainly it’s a self-obsessed work, reminding me frequently of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s writing, but I found it mesmerising in its relentless depiction of everyday existence. It’s a long book, but moves along at a good pace, as forward momentum is one of Haydn Wilks’ (many) skills as a writer. All his books are fast-paced, even when nothing much is happening. The book captures perfectly those Covid years we have just lived through, whatever our personal experiences may have been. There are reflections and musings on a wide range of topics, on society, politics, capitalism, friendship and family, always insightful, thought-provoking and to the point. Overall this is an impressive work that deserves a wide readership. Highly recommended.

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say about HIRAETH. that will be useful to others? My initial thoughts are the book is long....at the 90% point when I'm reading about implicit and explicit needs and wants the sentence 'My implicit need is to finish writing The fucking Lockdown Novel' switched in my brain to 'My implicit need is to finish reading The fucking Lockdown Novel'. Multiple times it was alluded to 'this could be the end of The Lockdown novel', and I agreed every time. My attention span just doesn't last this long anymore (but that's more on me than the book!). That said I generally enjoyed the story - my first foray into autofiction. I'm a different demographic (female in my mid 40s married with kids), living in a different country (Australia) and in a different situation during lockdown (I was fully employed working from home), but enjoyed reading about what lockdown was like for others in a different part of the world. I think the book was very clever - probably over my head at times. I liked the writing about writing the current novel, and also all the writing and promotions of the cryptocurrency novel - which I read and didn't enjoy half as much as this one. This book is very detailed about day to day life, drugs, drinking, trying to make ends meet. Worth the read to experience the situation from a very different point of view.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance copy of this novel in return for an honest review. I've previously read (and enjoyed) another of the author's books, $hitcoin.

The book resonated in two ways. The COVID lockdown experience was monumental. I think that we are all coming to terms with it. And I appreciated reading another's experience, however different that might have been from my own. And the contemplation of where I am from, where I want to live. Again an important issue to me.

Hiraeth, teitl y llyfr. Rwy'n dod o Orllewin Cymru. Caerfyrddin. Nid wyf yn byw yno. Hiraeth is an ever present emotion for me. And I enjoyed the honesty of the author not longing for home. But having bonds nonetheless. Not my emotions. But exploring Hiraeth through Wilks' eyes was a wonderful experience.

And that's why I enjoyed the book, would recommend the book. An honest writer, who lets you in, shows what he has seen, through his emotions and responses. That's a privilege. And one that enabled me to consider my own experiences and thoughts with more clarity.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird book to review.
Equally infuriating and engrossing, the main character (I have no idea how autobiographical this is) unashamedly describes himself as a self-entitled fuck-up, and at times you just want to shake him when he starts climbing up his own arse. Reading of lockdown experiences in Wales was illuminating though, especially the stupidity of regional lockdowns and the ways people circumvented them. Amongst the interesting yarns however there are long passages that are a chore, at around 30% through I was wondering if I could be bothered continuing. I'm glad I did persevere, he does eventually make progress of a sort, reliving the political upheavals is fascinating, and a couple of laugh out loud passages added an extra star to this review.

I think I like his Dad more than him, wonder if his book is available... : )

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received from author for an honest read and review,this review is my own.
I have previously read another brilliant book from Haydn and this was another fine book.
A good book that was written during covid and how things affected him and others he met.
A great snapshot of life during the hardships of covid.An entertaining read.