By Fflur Dafydd Twenty Thousand Saints Paperback - October 2008

by Fflur Dafydd

Archaeologist Deian returns to the island of his childhood, where his mother disappeared without a trace. Sister Viv, closet heretic and host of the annual conference of hermits, has erected for her a gold memorial declaring her unofficial sainthood. Documentary-maker Leri, meanwhile, is pursuing a story she is keeping from her assistant and lover, Greta. This has less to do with birds and saints' bones than with real bloodshed. During one hot August week, lives collide as Bardsey twirls once more for the cameras. A black comedy about finds, losses, secrets, privacy and intrusion...and how the most important things always happen off-camera.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

About the author

Fflur Dafydd is a novelist from Carmarthen who publishes in both Welsh and English. Since publishing her first novel, Lliwiau Liw Nos in 2005, she has published six fiction volumes. Two of her Welsh-language novels, Atyniad (Y Lolfa, 2006) and Y Llyfrgell (Y Lolfa, 2009) have been awarded the major fiction awards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, the Prose Medal (2006) and the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize (2009), making her the only female writer, and the youngest writer to date to have won both awards. Her first English language novel, Twenty Thousand Saints (Alcemi, 2008) – an innovative reworking and adaptation of the Welsh-language novel, Atyniad, also won the inaugural Oxfam Hay Emerging Writer of the Year Award at the Hay Festival 2009. As a result of these successes, she was chosen by the British Council as the first ever Welsh participant in the prestigious, world-renowned International Writing Program at Iowa University. She also holds an MA in Creative Writing from UEA, a PhD from Bangor University, and currently lectures in Creative Writing at Swansea University.

She is also a prominent singer-songwriter, who has produced 4 albums to date – and she was awarded the title of ‘Female Artist of the Year’ in the BBC Radio Cymru awards in 2010. She performs regularly in Wales and has also appeared in major festivals in America and Europe.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rare book for me in that it has its context grounded in Welsh independence/devolution even if it doesn’t feel like an overtly political novel on the surface. Through its setting on Bardsey Island (or in Welsh Ynys Enlli), a famed centre for Christianity once equal to Rome on the pilgrim route, it plays somewhat to ancient mythology and early British history (some of my pet topics at the moment). It’s also a good reminder that the worlds of English and Welsh speaking Wales can be very different and a (maybe rather cynical although I fear fairly accurate) portrayal of TV documentary making. There are lots of questions around Wales, its past and future, around identity and the media and its effects/influence, but all done in a fairly easy, ‘idyllic summer away from normality’ way. It felt like a good change to read about something that in different ways is both very familiar and not familiar at all.

[Sydney Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. Took a workshop with her here at school. She is a fantastic writer, teacher, and musician.

[S.E. Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting satire on the not so cosy, incestuous world of Welsh media, arts and academia, (not certain it was meant to be that).
Well written, slightly lost its way at points, in that a lot of sub-plots that kept taking over the plot, and the original narrator and main protagonist got lost in the mix. Nice representation of Bardesey and island life.

[Ava Macpherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 - I really enjoyed this and was great to read a book set in wales - the narrative was a love story / mystery that blended in questions of identity and belonging that I resonated with strongly - it was lovely to see cymraeg dotted in the pages and follow a characters journey to falling in love again with his mother tongue

[Alan Fitzgerald-Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of Welsh independence and how it affected those wishing to keep the Welsh language alive but covered through those living on Bardsley Island, just off the west coast mainland of Wales. A work of fiction by the author when living on Bardsley as writer in residence herself. Her first work in English.

[Abi Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bardsey Island (Ynys Enlli) lies about two miles off the tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales. Day-trippers are welcomed during the summer months but are warned to be careful, as islands can be dangerous. So says the official Bardsey website and Fflur Dafydd in her beautifully composed novel Twenty Thousand Saints.

It is summer and the Island has opened itself up to visitors once more. The first to arrive is a filmmaker, Leri, and her companion Greta. Next is Mererid, the writer-in-residence, who, after missing the early morning boat, finally makes it ashore. The last to arrive is the sinister Iestyn. Already inhabitant on Bardsey is a silent nun, Sister Vivian, a forlorn archaeologist named Deian and Leri, a beautiful, sensual woman that all seem to admire. Accompanying each of them are their secrets – their darkest secrets, which the Island itself intends to out.

Mischief and madness are found in all the places on the small, secluded Bardsey Island of this novel. Fflur Dafydd’s poetic narrative breathes life in to her carefully constructed characters. Each one of them share all with the reader but nothing with each other, reflecting both the vast expanse of nature and the condensed community on Bardsey. They all have their own space but each is confined.

Although a little slow in picking up momentum Dafydd’s wonderfully rendered story unearths each character’s hidden secret and compels the reader to dig deeper. Twenty Thousands Saints is a dark, comedic thriller that explores intense bonds between people and their loved ones. It is also a gripping read.

[Shakirah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I forced myself to read this book and I nearly went cross eyed with the effort. It was dead boring

[Richard Staines · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting read. A little different. I read it after seeing the writer's TV series 'Parch'.

The one thing both of these have in common is I didn't like the endings.