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Playing Twm
A witty time-slip story in which Midge's life is revolutionised when Hollywood pin-up Dylan Blane comes to sleepy mid Wales to star as Twm, the Welsh Robin Hood.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Ruth Morgan
32 books28 followersI've written for children of all ages from picture books and preschool animation scripts, to YA novels. My novels often deal with mysterious or ghostly themes, as I am a huge fan of this kind of literature myself. My YA novel ALIEN RAIN was shortlisted for the Tir na n-Og award - English language category - in 2017. THE COMET AND THE THIEF, an 18C historical fantasy, was chosen by Wales Arts Review as their Young Persons' Book of the Year for 2019. My book ANT CLANCY GAMES DETECTIVE is an adventure story about gaming for 8-12 year olds.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 18, 2025
I really liked this book alot, it's my favourite. I love the way it's written, I love how it looks its all I could think about for the last year or so.
March 8, 2012
Imagine my joy on finding a YA Welsh literature novel. I didn't even know they existed!
This novel was getting 4 stars up until the very end. The ending was so unsatisfactory I felt like I had wasted time reading any of it. Which is such a shame because up until that point, I really thought I had stumbled upon a hidden gem of a book.
I am only the fifth person to take this out from my local library, the book is in near perfect condition, and I just had to add it manually to the goodreads library. So when I say hidden gem, I really meant hidden gem!
This is a novel about Twm Sion Cati, Wales' version of Robin Hood. I can't explain how exciting this is for an English teacher in Wales, to find a YA novel that deals with Welsh culture and history? This ticks all kinds of Curriculum Cymraeg boxes!
Not only that, like I said, it's really good! There is a new girl settling in to a new life, arsey celebrities, humour, time travel. No really, you guys. There is time travel. You see the premise of this book is that Midge, the female protagonist, somehow finds herself back in the 16th century in Twm's cave by some total fluke of nature. The highjinks that occurs is both charming and readable, and Midge becomes more and more likeable as the story emerges.
The narrative is peppered with Welsh words, and traditional Welsh items of culture. It's imaginative, and enjoyable, and at this point I was all ready to rave on goodreads about it.
Then BAM, it changes.
It wasn't ever going to reach 5 stars for me for three reasons.
1) For such an imaginative novel about Twm Sion Cati, it really didn't give us enough information about him. Anybody reading this novel having never heard of him, would have left not much the wiser about his history. Some of the famous anecdotes are included, but it doesn't ever feel like there is much depth. Perhaps that is because there are such mixed reports on him, I don't know.
2) It had glimpses of female brilliance, then it was almost as if Ms Morgan got nervous about the feminist overtones and had to reign it in. I think this was all due to
and, 3) The final chapter was 2 and a half pages long. It was completely unsatisfactory, aside from a little glimpse into the 16th century Midge I had come to know and love, and left us with far more questions than answers. It really did feel rushed, as if a final word was an afterthought that needed to be dealt with. It really was a disappointing finish to a book with such great potential.
All in all I would recommend this novel. The story really was one of the most imaginative and, therefore, exciting that I have come across in quite a while. More Welsh Lit YA, please!
This novel was getting 4 stars up until the very end. The ending was so unsatisfactory I felt like I had wasted time reading any of it. Which is such a shame because up until that point, I really thought I had stumbled upon a hidden gem of a book.
I am only the fifth person to take this out from my local library, the book is in near perfect condition, and I just had to add it manually to the goodreads library. So when I say hidden gem, I really meant hidden gem!
This is a novel about Twm Sion Cati, Wales' version of Robin Hood. I can't explain how exciting this is for an English teacher in Wales, to find a YA novel that deals with Welsh culture and history? This ticks all kinds of Curriculum Cymraeg boxes!
Not only that, like I said, it's really good! There is a new girl settling in to a new life, arsey celebrities, humour, time travel. No really, you guys. There is time travel. You see the premise of this book is that Midge, the female protagonist, somehow finds herself back in the 16th century in Twm's cave by some total fluke of nature. The highjinks that occurs is both charming and readable, and Midge becomes more and more likeable as the story emerges.
The narrative is peppered with Welsh words, and traditional Welsh items of culture. It's imaginative, and enjoyable, and at this point I was all ready to rave on goodreads about it.
Then BAM, it changes.
It wasn't ever going to reach 5 stars for me for three reasons.
1) For such an imaginative novel about Twm Sion Cati, it really didn't give us enough information about him. Anybody reading this novel having never heard of him, would have left not much the wiser about his history. Some of the famous anecdotes are included, but it doesn't ever feel like there is much depth. Perhaps that is because there are such mixed reports on him, I don't know.
2) It had glimpses of female brilliance, then it was almost as if Ms Morgan got nervous about the feminist overtones and had to reign it in. I think this was all due to
and, 3) The final chapter was 2 and a half pages long. It was completely unsatisfactory, aside from a little glimpse into the 16th century Midge I had come to know and love, and left us with far more questions than answers. It really did feel rushed, as if a final word was an afterthought that needed to be dealt with. It really was a disappointing finish to a book with such great potential.
All in all I would recommend this novel. The story really was one of the most imaginative and, therefore, exciting that I have come across in quite a while. More Welsh Lit YA, please!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews