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Feet in Chains
In the pages of this classic 1936 novel, the passionate and headstrong Jane grows up and grows old, struggling to raise a family of six children on the pittance earned by her slate-quarrying husband, Ifan. Spanning the course of 40 years, this story traces the contours not only of one vividly-evoked Welsh family, but also of a nation coming to self-consciousness. Beginning in the heyday of Methodist fervor and ending with the carnage and disillusionment of the World War I, this book delves into a different culture and world.
300 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1936
15 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Kate Roberts
49 books23 followersKate Roberts was one of the foremost Welsh-language authors of the twentieth century. Known as Brenhines ein llên ("The queen of our literature"), she is known mainly for her short stories, but she also wrote novels. Roberts was also a prominent Welsh nationalist.
Roberts was born in the village of Rhosgadfan, Caernarfonshire (Gwynedd today) where her father (Owen Roberts) was a quarryman in the local slate quarries. She graduated in Welsh at the University College of Wales, Bangor and then trained as a teacher. She then taught in various schools in South Wales.
An early member of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, it was at their meetings that she met Morris T. Williams, whom she married in 1928. Williams was a printer, and eventually they bought the printing and publishing house Gwasg Gee, Denbigh, and moved to live in the town in 1935. The press published books, pamphlets and the Welsh-language weekly Y Faner, for which Roberts wrote regularly. After her husband's death in 1946 she carried on working the press for another ten years.
She remained in Denbigh after her retirement and died in 1985.
It was the death of her brother in the First World War that led Roberts to writing. She used her literary work as a means of coming to terms with her loss.
Her first volume of short stories appeared in 1925 O Gors y Bryniau ("From the Swamp of the Hills") but perhaps her most successful book of short stories is Te yn y Grug ("Tea in the Heather") (1959), a series of stories about children. As well as short stories Roberts also wrote novels, perhaps her most famous being Traed mewn Cyffion ("Feet in Chains") (1936) which reflected the hard life of a slate quarrying family. In 1960 she published Y Lôn Wen, a volume of autobiography.
Most of her novels and short stories have as a background about the region where she lived in north Wales. She herself said that she derived the material for her work, "from the society in which I was brought up, a poor society in an age poverty ... it was always a struggle against poverty. But notice that the characters haven't reached the bottom of that poverty, they are struggling against it, afraid of it." Her work deals with the uneventful lives of humble people and how they deal with difficulties and disillusionments.
Her work is remarkable for the richness of her language and for her perception. The role of women in society and progressive ideas about life and love are major themes in her work.
She also struck up a literary relationship with Saunders Lewis which they maintained over a period of forty years through the medium of letters. These letters give us a picture of life in Wales during the period and the comments of these two literary giants on events at home and abroad.
Many of her works have been translated into other languages.
Roberts was born in the village of Rhosgadfan, Caernarfonshire (Gwynedd today) where her father (Owen Roberts) was a quarryman in the local slate quarries. She graduated in Welsh at the University College of Wales, Bangor and then trained as a teacher. She then taught in various schools in South Wales.
An early member of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, it was at their meetings that she met Morris T. Williams, whom she married in 1928. Williams was a printer, and eventually they bought the printing and publishing house Gwasg Gee, Denbigh, and moved to live in the town in 1935. The press published books, pamphlets and the Welsh-language weekly Y Faner, for which Roberts wrote regularly. After her husband's death in 1946 she carried on working the press for another ten years.
She remained in Denbigh after her retirement and died in 1985.
It was the death of her brother in the First World War that led Roberts to writing. She used her literary work as a means of coming to terms with her loss.
Her first volume of short stories appeared in 1925 O Gors y Bryniau ("From the Swamp of the Hills") but perhaps her most successful book of short stories is Te yn y Grug ("Tea in the Heather") (1959), a series of stories about children. As well as short stories Roberts also wrote novels, perhaps her most famous being Traed mewn Cyffion ("Feet in Chains") (1936) which reflected the hard life of a slate quarrying family. In 1960 she published Y Lôn Wen, a volume of autobiography.
Most of her novels and short stories have as a background about the region where she lived in north Wales. She herself said that she derived the material for her work, "from the society in which I was brought up, a poor society in an age poverty ... it was always a struggle against poverty. But notice that the characters haven't reached the bottom of that poverty, they are struggling against it, afraid of it." Her work deals with the uneventful lives of humble people and how they deal with difficulties and disillusionments.
Her work is remarkable for the richness of her language and for her perception. The role of women in society and progressive ideas about life and love are major themes in her work.
She also struck up a literary relationship with Saunders Lewis which they maintained over a period of forty years through the medium of letters. These letters give us a picture of life in Wales during the period and the comments of these two literary giants on events at home and abroad.
Many of her works have been translated into other languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 2, 2013
I took a module taught by Katie Gramich, in my undergrad: Welsh Fiction in English. For the first time in my life I was introduced to a whole world of Welsh literature, about Welsh concerns, Welsh politics, Welsh history, Welsh future. I liked Feet in Chains when I read it then, but I enjoyed Katie Gramich's translation more: perhaps partly because I read Feet in Chains originally before the module, and now I can look at it again in light of what I've learnt -- and the wealth of Welsh literature I've read since. But I do think this was less dry than the translation I read, and somehow I found myself getting involved in it all so much more.
It doesn't fill me with the same level of outrage as Cwmardy and books like it did, but mostly with a quiet respect for Welsh families like the one described in this book and what they managed to do. It's not a political work in the same way, either; Kate Roberts does not bundle up socialism and tell you to open wide. It's quiet, realistic, sometimes bleak in that.
I'm pretty sure I'll be coming back to Feet in Chains again in future, too.
In terms of this exact edition: there's some footnotes at the end which explain certain translation choices or references, which are definitely worth reading to help understand the context.
It doesn't fill me with the same level of outrage as Cwmardy and books like it did, but mostly with a quiet respect for Welsh families like the one described in this book and what they managed to do. It's not a political work in the same way, either; Kate Roberts does not bundle up socialism and tell you to open wide. It's quiet, realistic, sometimes bleak in that.
I'm pretty sure I'll be coming back to Feet in Chains again in future, too.
In terms of this exact edition: there's some footnotes at the end which explain certain translation choices or references, which are definitely worth reading to help understand the context.
October 23, 2015
This is an uncompromising and brilliant book. A superbly crafted tale of life for working people in rural north west Wales at the end of the nineteenth and start of the twentieth century.
The characters are created as if hewn from the landscape itself. You understand the many layers of their lives through Roberts' powerful prose. You feel their struggles and hurts. There's no romanticism. Neither does Roberts preach. Welsh or not, this is a great work of literature and should be more widely known.
The characters are created as if hewn from the landscape itself. You understand the many layers of their lives through Roberts' powerful prose. You feel their struggles and hurts. There's no romanticism. Neither does Roberts preach. Welsh or not, this is a great work of literature and should be more widely known.
August 16, 2019
3.5* rounded up.
January 3, 2013
I absolutely loved this book. Beautifully written story of a family struggling to survive in North Wales from about 1890-1920. I was immediately drawn in and felt empathy with the characters.
September 12, 2013
This is the story of a family's struggle to survive in the slate mining community of North Wales in the years between 1880, when the main characters Jane and Ifan are married, and the coming of the First World War. It's quite a short novel to cover such a long time period, but by focusing on a few key incidents Roberts illuminates the whole wonderfully, so that the novel as a whole does not feel rushed. There are no extraordinary or dramatic events, more a day to day struggle to put food on the table and keep the children in school.
This isn't a particularly uplifting read, I have to say, not one of those feel good books where everyone is poor but the sense of family and community more than compensate for this. Family members certainly appear at the first sign of illness or death, but more like maurauding crows to feast on the spoils, than with any family feeling. And having read this so soon after My Antonia it was interesting to compare similarities in the attitudes towards rural and town life, but whereas My Antonia came down firmly on the side of the country life, Feet in Chains is much more ambiguous.
I loved the opening scene of the novel though, where the entire community is at an outdoor prayer meeting on a hot June day, but rather than focusing on the state of their soul the thoughts of the congregation are on more mundane matters: 'especially amongst the women, whose new shoes were pinching, their new stays too tight, and the high collars of their new frocks suffocating'. Jane is an object of envy at this, her first appearance as a new bride in the community of Moel Arian:
'Her waist was one of the smallest among the women in the congregation, as a result of much tugging at the cords of her stays before she started her way to the service. Her bustle was the largest in the field, the satin of her dress was the heaviest and stiffest there, it was she who had the most frills on her frock and the heaviest feather on her hat. Many of the women's eyes were upon her, since very few of them owned a satin dress which could stand up on its own' The contrast between this promising introduction, and the struggle which characterises the rest of Jane's life as the economic conditions of the neighbourhood deteriorate, is a poignant one.
Despite the active political life of the author (she was chair of the Women's Committee of the newly formed Welsh Nationalist Party) this isn't a novel that preaches an overtly political message, although politics are certainly dealt with. Rather it shows a concern for the plight of the slate workers who can do very little to improve their lot no matter how hard they work.
According to the introduction Kate Roberts is considered the most important Welsh female novelist of the twentieth century, although I have to admit that I hadn't heard of her before coming across this novel. This book was originally written in Welsh and I do wish I could read it in its original language. Reading it has brought on one of my periodic thoughts that I should learn Welsh properly, but given the fairly scant amount of Welsh that I know at the moment the likelihood of me actually getting to a standard where I could read a book like this is fairly non-existent! But there are several sections in the book where the anglicisation of words is key to characterisation, and that is clumsily conveyed when the whole book is in English. Feet in Chains reminded my a great deal of Bruce Chatwin's On the Black Hill. although as this novel was written in 1933 perhaps I should say that On the Black Hill reminded me of this. But they both have a similar sparse feel: covering decades in just a few pages. Overall then, a thought-provoking and worthwhile read - I'll be looking out for more by this author.
This isn't a particularly uplifting read, I have to say, not one of those feel good books where everyone is poor but the sense of family and community more than compensate for this. Family members certainly appear at the first sign of illness or death, but more like maurauding crows to feast on the spoils, than with any family feeling. And having read this so soon after My Antonia it was interesting to compare similarities in the attitudes towards rural and town life, but whereas My Antonia came down firmly on the side of the country life, Feet in Chains is much more ambiguous.
I loved the opening scene of the novel though, where the entire community is at an outdoor prayer meeting on a hot June day, but rather than focusing on the state of their soul the thoughts of the congregation are on more mundane matters: 'especially amongst the women, whose new shoes were pinching, their new stays too tight, and the high collars of their new frocks suffocating'. Jane is an object of envy at this, her first appearance as a new bride in the community of Moel Arian:
'Her waist was one of the smallest among the women in the congregation, as a result of much tugging at the cords of her stays before she started her way to the service. Her bustle was the largest in the field, the satin of her dress was the heaviest and stiffest there, it was she who had the most frills on her frock and the heaviest feather on her hat. Many of the women's eyes were upon her, since very few of them owned a satin dress which could stand up on its own' The contrast between this promising introduction, and the struggle which characterises the rest of Jane's life as the economic conditions of the neighbourhood deteriorate, is a poignant one.
Despite the active political life of the author (she was chair of the Women's Committee of the newly formed Welsh Nationalist Party) this isn't a novel that preaches an overtly political message, although politics are certainly dealt with. Rather it shows a concern for the plight of the slate workers who can do very little to improve their lot no matter how hard they work.
According to the introduction Kate Roberts is considered the most important Welsh female novelist of the twentieth century, although I have to admit that I hadn't heard of her before coming across this novel. This book was originally written in Welsh and I do wish I could read it in its original language. Reading it has brought on one of my periodic thoughts that I should learn Welsh properly, but given the fairly scant amount of Welsh that I know at the moment the likelihood of me actually getting to a standard where I could read a book like this is fairly non-existent! But there are several sections in the book where the anglicisation of words is key to characterisation, and that is clumsily conveyed when the whole book is in English. Feet in Chains reminded my a great deal of Bruce Chatwin's On the Black Hill. although as this novel was written in 1933 perhaps I should say that On the Black Hill reminded me of this. But they both have a similar sparse feel: covering decades in just a few pages. Overall then, a thought-provoking and worthwhile read - I'll be looking out for more by this author.
July 28, 2013
I picked this up on a realisation that I had never read anything written in Welsh, and that I was ignorant of the entire literature of a country nearby my own. Kate Roberts, the "Queen of Our Literature" as she has been labelled, seemed a good a place as any to start, and so it proved. The narrative flits between the members of a Welsh family in the decades approaching the First World War, branching out as they marry and have children and move inexorably away from their home. Although written in the 1930s, Roberts rejects a Modernist style for realism, and so conjures up a physically evocative and socially diverse community living in North-West Wales.
In spite of the title, there isn't any dominating political agenda to the book, and though the people in power are generally disdained, socialism is never heralded as the saviour of the working class. In the novel's obsession over the financial positions of everyone, and the heartbreak that living on the breadline causes, I was reminded of some of the best works of Russian literature. Economic reality is the engine behind the human drama of the story; there are family feuds over the misappropriation of inheritance, departure in search of work, and eventually a terrible loss; considering the way that Roberts manages to make the family and their community seem alive, this is a loss that is sobering and unforgiving.
An excerpt (not related to the plot point above!):
"His father's death was in his memory only, and not in his emotions. Feelings which had seared and hurt once had cooled and hardened. He became sad at the thought of the change that comes over people in the course of their lives. He would have liked to stand beside his mother's grave today, with his mind full of kind thoughts about her, though those thoughts would cool in exactly the same was as less kindly thoughts."
In spite of the title, there isn't any dominating political agenda to the book, and though the people in power are generally disdained, socialism is never heralded as the saviour of the working class. In the novel's obsession over the financial positions of everyone, and the heartbreak that living on the breadline causes, I was reminded of some of the best works of Russian literature. Economic reality is the engine behind the human drama of the story; there are family feuds over the misappropriation of inheritance, departure in search of work, and eventually a terrible loss; considering the way that Roberts manages to make the family and their community seem alive, this is a loss that is sobering and unforgiving.
An excerpt (not related to the plot point above!):
"His father's death was in his memory only, and not in his emotions. Feelings which had seared and hurt once had cooled and hardened. He became sad at the thought of the change that comes over people in the course of their lives. He would have liked to stand beside his mother's grave today, with his mind full of kind thoughts about her, though those thoughts would cool in exactly the same was as less kindly thoughts."
September 22, 2019
Kate Roberts is one of the most important and best Welsh authors of the 20th century. Reading her work in translation lets one guess at how splendid her prose would be in the original language, but my Welsh just isn't good enough for that.
"Feet in Chains" is the story of a family in rural Wales, Snowdonia to be more precise, and their fight against poverty over the generations. We learn about the educational system, church vs chapel, politics, nationalism, the Great War, and most importantly about Wales, its language and relation to the English.
It is fascinating to analyse where (in the original) Welsh words are used and where English ones as it is always a statement. The fight between the traditional Welsh language and the usurping English language is fought on the very page.
The book does not receive five stars because I really hated the ending.
4 Stars and I will read more of Kate Roberts' works.
"Feet in Chains" is the story of a family in rural Wales, Snowdonia to be more precise, and their fight against poverty over the generations. We learn about the educational system, church vs chapel, politics, nationalism, the Great War, and most importantly about Wales, its language and relation to the English.
It is fascinating to analyse where (in the original) Welsh words are used and where English ones as it is always a statement. The fight between the traditional Welsh language and the usurping English language is fought on the very page.
The book does not receive five stars because I really hated the ending.
4 Stars and I will read more of Kate Roberts' works.
January 29, 2019
Wales. Wonderful story of a family in rural Wales. They farm, they work in the quarry, they go to school and chapel. The descriptions of the countryside are beautiful. It is right before WWI and there is a great deal of explanation about what people thought about the war, what they thought about their place in society and the injustice of the social system. This novel was translated from Welsh into English and I am sure the prose was even more lyrical in its original language.
November 18, 2024
"Who, she wondered, had emptied the first wagon of waste at the base of that tip? |He was certainly in his grave by now. And who would be the last to throw his load of rubble from the top?"
I purchased this book at the Welsh National Slate Museum in Llanberis, a landscape that Welsh author Kate Roberts knew well and which she brings to life vividly in this excellent novel set in the hedy days of the industry. Today Llanberis is a ghost of those times when thousands of workers toiled in appalling conditions for very little pay. Kate Roberts was an active socialist and instrumental in the cause of Welsh nationalism. Wales has been occupied and exploited by British colonialism for centuries yet the Welsh nation with its living language has somehow survived centuries of cultural genocide. This book originally written in her mother tongue is presented here in a new translation.
A little understanding of how this small linguistically unique nation has managed to resist an imperial power which bloodily suppressed and conquered a good part of the world is imparted in this novel about a close knit slate mining community. Another feature of Robert's work is the centrality of women to her writing, Jane Gruffydd is introduced as a relatively well-to-do newcomer to the village through marriage to a local miner. The novel goes on to follow the trials and tribulations of the family as it becomes established with children being born and growing up.
The daily struggle to survive and to balance a household budget constantly dependent on shopkeepers credit is quarries edge gripping. The real terror of illness stopping household income is well illustrated, as is the place of mutual aid. The desire of parents for a better life for their children is contrasted with the need for children to enter the quarries with their fathers at an early age to bring immediate desperately needed extra income. Despite this the parents support their children as they achieve academically through hard work. It is also here that the pernicious influence of colonial English domination is clearly illustrated with higher education being primarily through English and all contact with the authorities being through the medium of the occupier's language, cutting the parents off from their children's development (An interesting note however is that the discourse of the slate industry was "almost exclusively in Welsh"). Perhaps this heartless imperialism is best illustrated in the letters in English sent to Welsh speaking families informing them of the death of their son's on the battlefields of the First World War - one of the most moving scenes in this book is the encounter with the military pensions officer.
The novel builds towards the First World War and the growing influence of socialism, the workers movement and a decline in the controlling power of chapel and church. At the same time it is clear that the growing movement of people and modernisation threatens the isolated Welsh communities which have naturally protected their language and culture from the invader down the centuries.
This is an outstanding novel in many ways, a work of social history, political history and of a nation occupied and oppressed for centuries but still resisting. Ironically in the increasingly one size fits all neoliberal system of assimilation we have today Cymru perhaps faces its greatest challenge to its survival and identity ever. Perhaps now is the best time for this excellent novel to be re-read for today!
"Their fate was the pain of worry of wondering how they were going to pay their way, how to get into the clear with the world, and of getting things that they had needed all through their lives but had never been able to afford."
I purchased this book at the Welsh National Slate Museum in Llanberis, a landscape that Welsh author Kate Roberts knew well and which she brings to life vividly in this excellent novel set in the hedy days of the industry. Today Llanberis is a ghost of those times when thousands of workers toiled in appalling conditions for very little pay. Kate Roberts was an active socialist and instrumental in the cause of Welsh nationalism. Wales has been occupied and exploited by British colonialism for centuries yet the Welsh nation with its living language has somehow survived centuries of cultural genocide. This book originally written in her mother tongue is presented here in a new translation.
A little understanding of how this small linguistically unique nation has managed to resist an imperial power which bloodily suppressed and conquered a good part of the world is imparted in this novel about a close knit slate mining community. Another feature of Robert's work is the centrality of women to her writing, Jane Gruffydd is introduced as a relatively well-to-do newcomer to the village through marriage to a local miner. The novel goes on to follow the trials and tribulations of the family as it becomes established with children being born and growing up.
The daily struggle to survive and to balance a household budget constantly dependent on shopkeepers credit is quarries edge gripping. The real terror of illness stopping household income is well illustrated, as is the place of mutual aid. The desire of parents for a better life for their children is contrasted with the need for children to enter the quarries with their fathers at an early age to bring immediate desperately needed extra income. Despite this the parents support their children as they achieve academically through hard work. It is also here that the pernicious influence of colonial English domination is clearly illustrated with higher education being primarily through English and all contact with the authorities being through the medium of the occupier's language, cutting the parents off from their children's development (An interesting note however is that the discourse of the slate industry was "almost exclusively in Welsh"). Perhaps this heartless imperialism is best illustrated in the letters in English sent to Welsh speaking families informing them of the death of their son's on the battlefields of the First World War - one of the most moving scenes in this book is the encounter with the military pensions officer.
The novel builds towards the First World War and the growing influence of socialism, the workers movement and a decline in the controlling power of chapel and church. At the same time it is clear that the growing movement of people and modernisation threatens the isolated Welsh communities which have naturally protected their language and culture from the invader down the centuries.
This is an outstanding novel in many ways, a work of social history, political history and of a nation occupied and oppressed for centuries but still resisting. Ironically in the increasingly one size fits all neoliberal system of assimilation we have today Cymru perhaps faces its greatest challenge to its survival and identity ever. Perhaps now is the best time for this excellent novel to be re-read for today!
"Their fate was the pain of worry of wondering how they were going to pay their way, how to get into the clear with the world, and of getting things that they had needed all through their lives but had never been able to afford."
July 10, 2025
vot siin on teile brittide Tammsaare, kellest te keegi elus enne kuulnud pole ilmselt (mina olin, sest Duolingo on mulle ammu selgeks teinud, et tegu oli kuulsa kirjanikuga). aga Walesi kultuuri jaoks on ta täiega Eiffeli torn, täpsemalt kutsutakse teda "meie kirjanduse kuningannaks". eluaastad 1891-1985. Nobeli kirjanduspreemiale jõudis sama lähedale kui Jaan Kross, st 1963 nomineeriti, aga ei võitnud.
see ahelais jalgade lugu on ta romaanidest ehk tuntuim (ta muidu kirjutas novelle rohkem) ja Tammsaare-paralleele saab siin minu meelest tõmmata küll - lugu algab aastal 1880, kui Põhja-Walesi kiltkivikaevur Ifan toob tallu oma noore naise Jane'i, ja lõppeb veidi pärast seda, kui üks nende poegadest esimeses ilmasõjas surma saab (ja teine revolutsioonimõtteid mõlgutama jääb, sest ükskord prahvatab vimm jne). vahepeal juhtuvad tavalised asjad - sünnib lapsi, mõni poeg peab varakult isaga kaevandusse (karjääri tegelikult vist) kaasa minema ja mõni osutub nutikaks ja saab linna kooli; mõni tütar läheb mehele ja mõni teenistusse; raha on kogu aeg vähe ja poest võetakse võlgu ja hädapäraseks äraelamiseks peab pärast rasket palgatööpäeva ikkagi talu ka pidama. eks loodetakse ikka, et lapsed saavad parema elu peale ja ehk hakkavad vanemaidki toetama, aga selgub, et ka õpetajapalk pole suurem asi ja kellelgi midagi üle ikka ei jää.
kõlab nagu masendav lugu, aga tegelikult põhiosas üldse ei ole, selline rahulik tasane pajatus. midagi suuremat nagu ei juhtugi, sellised väiksed kodused draamad. lõpupoole küll hakkab seal nooremas põlvkonnas rahulolematus pead tõstma, et kas tõesti elu kunagi paremaks ei lähegi ja miks me selles sõjas olemegi ja kellele see kasulik on - ülemäära poliitiliseks siin ei minda, aga viiteid ikkagi leidub nii autori enda vaadetele (kirglik Walesi rahvuslane) kui tolle aja üldistele meeleoludele (üldiselt oldi sealkandis sel ajal selle sõja ja eriti kohustusliku armeeteenistuse vastu).
mulle meeldis ja loen Robertsit kindlasti veel, see kõik oli väga sujuvalt kirja pandud.
see ahelais jalgade lugu on ta romaanidest ehk tuntuim (ta muidu kirjutas novelle rohkem) ja Tammsaare-paralleele saab siin minu meelest tõmmata küll - lugu algab aastal 1880, kui Põhja-Walesi kiltkivikaevur Ifan toob tallu oma noore naise Jane'i, ja lõppeb veidi pärast seda, kui üks nende poegadest esimeses ilmasõjas surma saab (ja teine revolutsioonimõtteid mõlgutama jääb, sest ükskord prahvatab vimm jne). vahepeal juhtuvad tavalised asjad - sünnib lapsi, mõni poeg peab varakult isaga kaevandusse (karjääri tegelikult vist) kaasa minema ja mõni osutub nutikaks ja saab linna kooli; mõni tütar läheb mehele ja mõni teenistusse; raha on kogu aeg vähe ja poest võetakse võlgu ja hädapäraseks äraelamiseks peab pärast rasket palgatööpäeva ikkagi talu ka pidama. eks loodetakse ikka, et lapsed saavad parema elu peale ja ehk hakkavad vanemaidki toetama, aga selgub, et ka õpetajapalk pole suurem asi ja kellelgi midagi üle ikka ei jää.
kõlab nagu masendav lugu, aga tegelikult põhiosas üldse ei ole, selline rahulik tasane pajatus. midagi suuremat nagu ei juhtugi, sellised väiksed kodused draamad. lõpupoole küll hakkab seal nooremas põlvkonnas rahulolematus pead tõstma, et kas tõesti elu kunagi paremaks ei lähegi ja miks me selles sõjas olemegi ja kellele see kasulik on - ülemäära poliitiliseks siin ei minda, aga viiteid ikkagi leidub nii autori enda vaadetele (kirglik Walesi rahvuslane) kui tolle aja üldistele meeleoludele (üldiselt oldi sealkandis sel ajal selle sõja ja eriti kohustusliku armeeteenistuse vastu).
mulle meeldis ja loen Robertsit kindlasti veel, see kõik oli väga sujuvalt kirja pandud.
June 16, 2019
Translated from the Welsh by John Idris Jones.
I picked up the book "Feet in Chains" (Traed mewn Cyffion) by Kate Roberts in Oxfam Porthmadog one morning. To be honest, I recognised the Peter Prendergast painting on the cover and was intrigued- the writer's name was curiously familiar too. It was only 99p...I could hardly go wrong, could I?
Back home with a cup of coffee, I scanned the first page, then went back and read the first three paragraphs, whereupon the afternoon slid by as I read on, oblivious to my surroundings. It's a good job I'm my own boss!
Afterwards, I remembered something on the internet about Kate Roberts. She was the Brenhines ein llên (The Queen of our Literature), a towering figure in Welsh writing, which is saying something.
Like I said, I was drawn in right from the off. The book opens with a young newly married woman listening to an outdoor sermon in North Wales during a preaching festival. The year is 1880:
"The hum of insects, the gorse crackling, the murmur of heat and the velvet tones of the preacher endlessly flowing."
What a beginning! She had described the Wales I love in that sentence and I was there on the hillside with Jane Gruffyd. Although in my case, I would have been scanning the skyline for slate quarries, not listening to the preacher. Nevertheless, Robert's description of his words reminded me of a stream coming off the mountain, an endless, mellifluous sound, but meaningless. Then she subtly burlesques the preacher and the congregation:
"He (the preacher) was able to preach effortlessly, restricted only by his clothes and his collar pressing in on him."
and the ladies:
"Their new shoes were pinching, their stays were too tight and the high collars of their new frocks were almost choking them."
It's a fine introduction, and though religion makes few significant appearances after this, the book soon settles into it's work, becoming a beautifully evocative study of family life, set against the hardships and pettyness of community and quarry. Jane's relationships with her husband and her children are drawn honestly and clearly without any false-sounding notes. There is no plot, except for the inexorable ticking of the clock as life moves on; the novels sets itself deeper into the landscape and into the reader with every page. After a while, I was struck with a slight resemblance to Jane Austen in the way Roberts uses humour and pathos with her characters, but unlike Austen, it is rarely at their expense.
The injustices at the quarry are drawn well, particularly with the "Little Steward", Morus Ifan, a small man of tiny achievements who took every advantage over the men in his charge. Robert's words have the ring of veracity when she describes the quarrymen, presumably at Moel Tryfan or Alexandra quarry:
"He could see the men in the shed, their caps pulled down over their eyes, cold and miserable, waiting by the doors of the shed for the hooter to sound. Like grey rats in their holes, they would peer round the doorposts. Then, when the hooter blew, they rushed headlong like a pack of hounds down the tramline towards the mountain."
The nature of work in the quarry is described through the thoughts of Jane's son Will, and her husband Ifan. The ever-dwindling rewards of their way of life are set against those perceived of the townsfolk who cut about in the latest fashions. There are parallels to be drawn here with the present day and our obsession with material things, thus being the unwitting dupes of the monied few.
While the tone of the book is often dour, like the grey landscape it is set against- and the hardships of the characters test them severely, the relationships between the family themselves are a source of both brightness and of conflict. Their inherent nature shining out from the many difficulties. Jane's alliance with her husband's sister Geini, forged early on in the novel, is particularly satisfying. She stands with Jane against the tyranny of her mother in law and is a source of emotional support. Family, of course brings pain and hurt, causing the son Owen to wonder about his choices and situation. The family have sacrificed much to send him and his brother Twm to university, putting a strain on ther family finances- when he gains employment, Owen sends home every penny he can. His sister, Sionedd, however is a self serving, shifty character who inherits their grandmothers money and yet gives none of it to help out. There are some fine passages where Owen tries to reason this out, but comes to a working conclusion that it is human nature and "he hates them all for it," as he sits surrounded by portraits of his ancestors. Roberts lets us know that he realises eventually how for him, ultimately it's about being honest, about having a duty of care. About love for one's family.
I shouldn't have been surprised, that the book takes a strongly left wing viewpoint - this was Wales at a crossroads and the son William is a passionate advocate of the union. Seeing that the men at the quarry were too meek to challenge the quarry owners, he goes away to make a new life for himself in the collieries of South Wales, becoming a Union official.
The war comes, an English war, a capitalist war that they want none of, but taunted by the folk in the town and by their uunsatisfactory situations, the boys enlist and Twm is killed. What shocked me was that the letter to inform the family of Tom's death in action was written in English. Neither Jane nor Ifan could read it and they had to ask a shopkeeper, who delivered the devastating news.
I put the book down reluctantly after I had finished it. I realised that it had touched me because it is set in a place I love and is about a people who fascinate me. I also sensed that it could have been written about society today and the themes that recur, the inequalities, the manipulation by the wealthy. And about the squabbles and small victories of ordinary family life. All that was missing was the very real concerns over the environment and our future- but I wouldn't wish that on Robert's characters!
Postscript:
The book I had bought was a Seren imprint, translated by John Idris Jones, a translation that gave me all the salient bearings to make sense of the story and it's characterisation. I haver since read a review of a new translation, by Katie Gramich- it will be interesting to see how this compares.
I picked up the book "Feet in Chains" (Traed mewn Cyffion) by Kate Roberts in Oxfam Porthmadog one morning. To be honest, I recognised the Peter Prendergast painting on the cover and was intrigued- the writer's name was curiously familiar too. It was only 99p...I could hardly go wrong, could I?
Back home with a cup of coffee, I scanned the first page, then went back and read the first three paragraphs, whereupon the afternoon slid by as I read on, oblivious to my surroundings. It's a good job I'm my own boss!
Afterwards, I remembered something on the internet about Kate Roberts. She was the Brenhines ein llên (The Queen of our Literature), a towering figure in Welsh writing, which is saying something.
Like I said, I was drawn in right from the off. The book opens with a young newly married woman listening to an outdoor sermon in North Wales during a preaching festival. The year is 1880:
"The hum of insects, the gorse crackling, the murmur of heat and the velvet tones of the preacher endlessly flowing."
What a beginning! She had described the Wales I love in that sentence and I was there on the hillside with Jane Gruffyd. Although in my case, I would have been scanning the skyline for slate quarries, not listening to the preacher. Nevertheless, Robert's description of his words reminded me of a stream coming off the mountain, an endless, mellifluous sound, but meaningless. Then she subtly burlesques the preacher and the congregation:
"He (the preacher) was able to preach effortlessly, restricted only by his clothes and his collar pressing in on him."
and the ladies:
"Their new shoes were pinching, their stays were too tight and the high collars of their new frocks were almost choking them."
It's a fine introduction, and though religion makes few significant appearances after this, the book soon settles into it's work, becoming a beautifully evocative study of family life, set against the hardships and pettyness of community and quarry. Jane's relationships with her husband and her children are drawn honestly and clearly without any false-sounding notes. There is no plot, except for the inexorable ticking of the clock as life moves on; the novels sets itself deeper into the landscape and into the reader with every page. After a while, I was struck with a slight resemblance to Jane Austen in the way Roberts uses humour and pathos with her characters, but unlike Austen, it is rarely at their expense.
The injustices at the quarry are drawn well, particularly with the "Little Steward", Morus Ifan, a small man of tiny achievements who took every advantage over the men in his charge. Robert's words have the ring of veracity when she describes the quarrymen, presumably at Moel Tryfan or Alexandra quarry:
"He could see the men in the shed, their caps pulled down over their eyes, cold and miserable, waiting by the doors of the shed for the hooter to sound. Like grey rats in their holes, they would peer round the doorposts. Then, when the hooter blew, they rushed headlong like a pack of hounds down the tramline towards the mountain."
The nature of work in the quarry is described through the thoughts of Jane's son Will, and her husband Ifan. The ever-dwindling rewards of their way of life are set against those perceived of the townsfolk who cut about in the latest fashions. There are parallels to be drawn here with the present day and our obsession with material things, thus being the unwitting dupes of the monied few.
While the tone of the book is often dour, like the grey landscape it is set against- and the hardships of the characters test them severely, the relationships between the family themselves are a source of both brightness and of conflict. Their inherent nature shining out from the many difficulties. Jane's alliance with her husband's sister Geini, forged early on in the novel, is particularly satisfying. She stands with Jane against the tyranny of her mother in law and is a source of emotional support. Family, of course brings pain and hurt, causing the son Owen to wonder about his choices and situation. The family have sacrificed much to send him and his brother Twm to university, putting a strain on ther family finances- when he gains employment, Owen sends home every penny he can. His sister, Sionedd, however is a self serving, shifty character who inherits their grandmothers money and yet gives none of it to help out. There are some fine passages where Owen tries to reason this out, but comes to a working conclusion that it is human nature and "he hates them all for it," as he sits surrounded by portraits of his ancestors. Roberts lets us know that he realises eventually how for him, ultimately it's about being honest, about having a duty of care. About love for one's family.
I shouldn't have been surprised, that the book takes a strongly left wing viewpoint - this was Wales at a crossroads and the son William is a passionate advocate of the union. Seeing that the men at the quarry were too meek to challenge the quarry owners, he goes away to make a new life for himself in the collieries of South Wales, becoming a Union official.
The war comes, an English war, a capitalist war that they want none of, but taunted by the folk in the town and by their uunsatisfactory situations, the boys enlist and Twm is killed. What shocked me was that the letter to inform the family of Tom's death in action was written in English. Neither Jane nor Ifan could read it and they had to ask a shopkeeper, who delivered the devastating news.
I put the book down reluctantly after I had finished it. I realised that it had touched me because it is set in a place I love and is about a people who fascinate me. I also sensed that it could have been written about society today and the themes that recur, the inequalities, the manipulation by the wealthy. And about the squabbles and small victories of ordinary family life. All that was missing was the very real concerns over the environment and our future- but I wouldn't wish that on Robert's characters!
Postscript:
The book I had bought was a Seren imprint, translated by John Idris Jones, a translation that gave me all the salient bearings to make sense of the story and it's characterisation. I haver since read a review of a new translation, by Katie Gramich- it will be interesting to see how this compares.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2020
Not really a novel in the conventional sense of start middle ending reads more like part of something unfinished. A snapshot of life in North Wales for one family from circa 1880 to 1918. If Kate Roberts is supposedly Wales greatest novelist in Welsh and this is her greatest novel as the jacket states then the field of novels in Welsh language must be pretty slim. Its a novello at best and even allowing for a poor translation the style is rather simplistic and jerky in places like a school writing exercise. Nor does it feel particularly northwalian - not strong on sense of place - could be any poor working class family of the era anywhere in the UK just happens to be slate mines of North Wales. That said its an easy evocative straightforward read reminding one that poverty these days is not a patch on what poverty really meant back then. As for the writing I am distinctly underwhelmed but maybe it reads better in Welsh.
March 14, 2024
It's an interesting snapshot into North Wales of that time period and I liked Jane and Owen, two of the main characters. It was especially interesting to read what life was like from a woman's point of view. There are a lot of different characters and so the author explored a number of themes that people of the time would have been interested and concerned by.
I was disappointed with the constantly shifting point of view and by some characters that had no personality despite us floating inside their heads. While reading, the point of view changes rapidly between paragraphs and I lost track of who's head I was inside of several times. Some people have almost the same name too, which caused me confusion and took me out of the story occasionally.
I was disappointed with the constantly shifting point of view and by some characters that had no personality despite us floating inside their heads. While reading, the point of view changes rapidly between paragraphs and I lost track of who's head I was inside of several times. Some people have almost the same name too, which caused me confusion and took me out of the story occasionally.
January 3, 2020
And so the two women talked about their lives, without understanding any of the causes of their situation. But they were fully alive to the effects.Probably would not have picked up this book if it weren't for uni but I'm really amazed how much I enjoyed reading it. There's something captivating about Roberts' honest and detailed depiction of the lives of Welsh families over generations. It feels like you are a part of their story, told largely from the point of view of Owen. It shows their struggle with class, education and features some anti-War sentiments I have not read that much about before. Great read.
February 28, 2022
Feet in Chains tells the story of Jane and Ifan Gruffydd as they struggle to keep body and soul together on their small holding near Caernarfon, and raise their three daughters and three sons. Ifan is a quarryman, at the mercy of powerful employers who can lower wages or increase hours at will. Kate Roberts was the daughter of a quarryman and was brought up on her parents’ smallholding in Caernarfonshire. Her personal experiences give the novel much of its power, but it goes far beyond fictionalised autobiography. It’s a wonderful book, and I will certainly be reading more of Kate Roberts’s work.
March 21, 2021
I very much enjoyed this and read it very quickly over two days. The writing didn't necessarily pull me in as far as I like. It felt rather sparse and detached. This is a translation, though, and I wonder if the original would read better. The story kept me coming back, though, and I felt utterly at home in the landscape I know so well. A feeling of bitter-sweet melancholy runs through the story and leaves you wanting more. I don't know why there aren't more of Kate Roberts' works in translation, or why they're not better known.
September 10, 2023
An excellent social and political satire of the wealthy & corrupt who exploit the poor labourer in North wales.
The story focuses on the Gruffydd family, slate hard working IFAn and his children.who bare scratch a living in North Wales. They have six children, three of each. It explores the lives of each of them in detail.
The two distinct themes are money & loss with an accompanying grief & bereavement.
The author explores social attitudes to loss and bereavement in the early twentieth century
The story focuses on the Gruffydd family, slate hard working IFAn and his children.who bare scratch a living in North Wales. They have six children, three of each. It explores the lives of each of them in detail.
The two distinct themes are money & loss with an accompanying grief & bereavement.
The author explores social attitudes to loss and bereavement in the early twentieth century
January 4, 2025
'Traed Mewn Cyffion' is a Welsh language classic and one that has been missed since school days (studied Roberts' short story collection 'Prynu Dol' way back in the day). The narrative details the marriage of Jane and Ifan in a small western North Walian village from 1880 through to the days of WW1 and the fates of their six children, the influence of English incomers and the decline in the Welsh slate industry at Llanberis.
Beautifully written and translated, reminiscent of Hardy, although possibly not quite as miserable! Highly recommended.
Beautifully written and translated, reminiscent of Hardy, although possibly not quite as miserable! Highly recommended.
July 17, 2022
Llyfr arbennig sy'n rhoi cipolwg o fywyd teulu Cymraeg dros gyfnod penodol. Mae Kate Roberts yn adrodd y stori'n grefftus.
Rwy'n teimlo bod rhai o'r themâu a'r cymeriadau yn agosach at ein hamser ni nawr, bron na ysgrifennodd hi'r llyfr ddoe. Diddorol oedd darllen y llyfr hwn dan yr amgylchiadau presennol.
Roedd yr eirfa ar gyfer y penawdau hefyd yn help o ran deall tafodiaith a hen dermau a godir o bryd i'w gilydd.
Rwy'n teimlo bod rhai o'r themâu a'r cymeriadau yn agosach at ein hamser ni nawr, bron na ysgrifennodd hi'r llyfr ddoe. Diddorol oedd darllen y llyfr hwn dan yr amgylchiadau presennol.
Roedd yr eirfa ar gyfer y penawdau hefyd yn help o ran deall tafodiaith a hen dermau a godir o bryd i'w gilydd.
October 17, 2025
This was an engrossing novel. It ran through the years of the family in a way which could sometimes make it a little hard to keep track of but also seemed to speak to the toil of the character's lives. It provided a wealth of insights into the lives of poor folks living in North Wales at the turn of the century & the notes at the back really helped in bringing this further into the wider historical & cultural context.
November 3, 2025
I read the translation by Katie Gramich.
This is the first Welsh classic that I’ve read. I really liked it. I liked the pacing, I liked the development of the story. I liked that we got to have some of the children’s perspectives, rather than just Jane’s. Mostly, I loved how timeless some of the family dynamics felt, as it really helped me to connect to the story and characters.
This is the first Welsh classic that I’ve read. I really liked it. I liked the pacing, I liked the development of the story. I liked that we got to have some of the children’s perspectives, rather than just Jane’s. Mostly, I loved how timeless some of the family dynamics felt, as it really helped me to connect to the story and characters.
January 6, 2018
Excellent!
July 8, 2020
Thank you Shawn Mooney for suggesting this book. I loved it.
June 16, 2021
Llyfr ardderchog ac mae'n dda gen i ddarllen Cymraeg - ddylwn i 'neud hynny'n amlach.
August 15, 2023
Good story, finding out how people survived.
July 16, 2025
Great "slice of life" style book set in the late 1800's in Wales. I enjoyed the place of the book and reading about farming life and worries the people that worked in quarries had.
October 14, 2025
An excellent story of a slate mining family in north wales. I learnt some important social history
October 29, 2025
a quiet account of a family during an interesting period in history
July 10, 2025
Starts with a quotation from the Book of Job, so we know we’re in for hard times. And so it is. Hard times for a slate-mining family in North Wales from the 1880s to the Great War – written in 1936 and drawing on Kate Roberts’s own background as a quarryman’s daughter.
Short of work, short of money, short of food, Jane Gruffydd and her family endure – or at least the survivors do – despite the English and the mine-owners. It calls to mind some of her South Wales contemporaries – like Jack Jones – writing about coal in the Valleys, unions and strikes and all.
Some of the incidents hit home: Jane receives an ominous letter from the War Office about her enlisted son in France – in English, so nobody knows what it says (she has to run to find a shopkeeper who can read it). The callousness of it is shocking, but that’s because it’s undoubtedly something that really did happen and not something the author fabricated.
And that’s why the book isn’t great as a novel. Whether in translation or the original Welsh, Feet in Chains is a rather predictable slice of old-fashioned realist fiction – a plain tale of plain people plainly told. A narrative without literary pretension. Suitable to be read in chapels. Short, though.
Short of work, short of money, short of food, Jane Gruffydd and her family endure – or at least the survivors do – despite the English and the mine-owners. It calls to mind some of her South Wales contemporaries – like Jack Jones – writing about coal in the Valleys, unions and strikes and all.
Some of the incidents hit home: Jane receives an ominous letter from the War Office about her enlisted son in France – in English, so nobody knows what it says (she has to run to find a shopkeeper who can read it). The callousness of it is shocking, but that’s because it’s undoubtedly something that really did happen and not something the author fabricated.
And that’s why the book isn’t great as a novel. Whether in translation or the original Welsh, Feet in Chains is a rather predictable slice of old-fashioned realist fiction – a plain tale of plain people plainly told. A narrative without literary pretension. Suitable to be read in chapels. Short, though.
June 14, 2010
A very, very sombre read, and not easy, for all that it's quite short. It's about a Welsh family in the decades before the first world war, and the poverty they endure. Not just the outside pressures, but the snobbishness and selfishness of their own families, refusing to share money equally or take any responsibilities.
I got fond of the family, slowly, most of them. A lot of them don't get much description, and it focuses on a couple of them in more detail, but no one is really central, just the family as a unit.
Sad and hard to read, and not exciting at all, but still worth it.
I got fond of the family, slowly, most of them. A lot of them don't get much description, and it focuses on a couple of them in more detail, but no one is really central, just the family as a unit.
Sad and hard to read, and not exciting at all, but still worth it.
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