A Welsh Dawn

by Gareth Thomas

A novel set in rural Wales explores the tensions that existed within Welsh society in the 1950s. The tensions explored are those between Welsh and English-speaking Wales, between north and south, between those who wanted to preserve their heritage, and those who wanted prosperity at any cost, between the generation who had experienced the war and the young people who see Wales within a wider European and world context. "Following a family through [Wales'] growing pains and economical/political shifts, Thomas offers a unique look at nationalism."--World Literature Today

399 pages, Paperback

Published January 26, 2015

Reviews

[Daphne King · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel set in north Wales in the 1950s . We are introduced first to Gwilym, a young lad who joins a Welsh speaking school as an English only child. His father Glan moves to the area on business and we are gradually introduced to Twm, his employee and Twm's estranged wife Phyliss and their two sons, Ifan and Bryn, Dafydd, a local councillor who goes on to become mayor of Caernarfon and Huw T Edwards who is chair of the Council for Wales. This is a large array of characters and it is never clear who is the main protagonist in the events of the local community. Ifan emerged as the most interesting of the characters with good character development.

The novel is more of a documentary and the author adds in lengthy scenes at Westminster with the key players in the parliament of the time, notably Gwilym Lloyd George, the Home Secretary who doubled up as Minister for Welsh Affairs and Macmillan and their meetings with Huw T Edwards. where he tried to avert the decision to allow Liverpool Council water scheme to flood the village of Capel Celyn.

Too much is crammed in to one novel and it would have benefitted from a revision which shortened the sections in Westminster and related events in a different perspective. There is much good writing in here, but the good writing becomes lost in too many factual presentations.

As someone who knows very little about this period of Welsh history, I found it informative, giving a good insight into the plight of the Welsh people at this time and their treatment by the Westminster government.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a valiant effort at portraying the state of Welsh culture in the 1950s, but it didn't really work for me. There were too many themes and too many characters. That might have been all right if it had been written by someone like James Clavell in 1000 pages, but not in a normal-length novel. It was hard to tell who the main character was supposed to be, and the real-life characters like Macmillan were not portrayed in a believable manner. There was little in the way of action, and at the end I didn't feel as though anything had really happened.

[Mthr. Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting and very readable story of the life of a community on the grand and the intimate stages