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Strike for a Kingdom
First published in 1959, this novel is set in the fictional valleys town of Cilhendre at the time of the 1926 miners' strike. August arrives and the village carnival is going ahead. In the heightened carnival atmosphere, more sinister undertones are revealed when the corpse of the hated mine manager is discovered. The secrets and tensions of a close-knit community are exposed, and loyalties are pushed to their extremes. When it was originally released, it was well-received as an outstanding detective story and a poet's novel.
161 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
About the author
Menna Gallie
8 books1 followerFrom Wikipedia:
Menna Patricia Humphreys Gallie (1920 - 1990) was a Welsh novelist and translator.
She was born in Ystradgynlais. She married the philosopher W. B. Gallie in 1940, with whom she had a son and a daughter.
She is best known for her novels in the English language, and as the translator of Caradog Prichard's Un Nos Ola Leuad, under the title Full Moon.
One reviewer commented on her "characteristically robust humor."
Menna Patricia Humphreys Gallie (1920 - 1990) was a Welsh novelist and translator.
She was born in Ystradgynlais. She married the philosopher W. B. Gallie in 1940, with whom she had a son and a daughter.
She is best known for her novels in the English language, and as the translator of Caradog Prichard's Un Nos Ola Leuad, under the title Full Moon.
One reviewer commented on her "characteristically robust humor."
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 23, 2011
I liked Strike for a Kingdom rather more than The Small Mine. The borrowing from the crime/detective genre is interesting, but the story is still fundamentally about a little Welsh community, against the backdrop of the miners' strikes. It feels like a stronger community than that in The Small Mine, I suppose, and I got more involved in the life of it. Plus, there is more of a mystery about it, and more characters to get involved with. It's sort of odd in tone, there's something rather comic about parts of it -- someone described You're Welcome to Ulster!, another of Menna Gallie's books, as a tragi-comedy, and there's elements of that here.
The introduction, by Angela V. John, seems fairly helpful, though the close-reading of the text is a bit lacking. It gets a reference totally wrong (a reference to Judas Ischariot is quite different to a reference to Pontius Pilate!).
The introduction, by Angela V. John, seems fairly helpful, though the close-reading of the text is a bit lacking. It gets a reference totally wrong (a reference to Judas Ischariot is quite different to a reference to Pontius Pilate!).
April 7, 2026
Murder in the valleys…
It’s August, 1926. The men of the little mining village of Cilhendre in the Welsh valleys have been out on strike for three months, and there’s no sign of the strike ending any time soon. Money is short but community spirit is strong and the men look out for each other. They decide to go ahead with their annual carnival despite lack of funds, mainly for the sake of the children. But while they’re all partying, word spreads that a body has been found down by the river. It is Mr Nixon, the mine manager, and it appears he’s been murdered…
Well, this is something special! It’s only 160 pages and yet it packs in an entire community, letting us see their way of life, the friendship and loyalties among them, the strength of families, the central place of the chapel, of faith as an institution. The strike is central to the story but not in a political sense. Gallie is firmly on the side of the miners and places the reader there too. In passing, she shows the inequalities between miners and owners, with managers stuck in the middle. But mostly the strike is simply there to show its impact on the village. I understand from the introduction that Gallie has written about women in other books, but, while there are well-drawn women in this one, I felt it was very definitely focused on the striking men.
The character we spend most time with is DJ “Davy” Williams. A striking miner himself, he is also the local Justice of the Peace, and he’s the man other men come to with their problems. He is self-educated, with a small library of modern authors, and is sensitive to other people’s needs and emotions. Gallie makes him the heart of the story – through him, she shows the conflicted feelings of the community about the murder. Nixon had been generally disliked – he was not just a manager, but a hard one, seen as unfair. There’s no grief for his passing in the village, though there’s some sympathy for his wife. As a JP and an honest man, Davy believes that justice must be done – the murderer must be found. But as a miner and a man who cares about his fellows, he hates the idea of one of the men being caught and hanged. More, he is deeply disturbed at the idea that anyone he knows could have killed another human being.
There’s lots of humour in the book. Gallie has the ability to create conversations between the men which are not just brilliant at reproducing dialect and speech patterns but which reveal each of the men as both individuals and part of a close group. They tell each other stories, often funny, often quite crude (for the time – very innocent fare, these days), and they make fun of each other. But they also know what’s going on in each other’s lives and are there to support each other – not with eloquent speeches, but with practical help, or just by being around when someone feels low. There’s a sprinkling of Welsh words, but they’re easy to understand in context and add to the strong feeling of “Welshness” that pervades the entire book.
But there’s also tragedy, and Gallie does that just as wonderfully, never descending into melodrama or bathos. As the police investigate the murder, we learn about other secrets in the village, and see people terrified that these secrets will come out. But it’s a small village and often the secrets are known – other people just pretend they don’t know out of kindness. The police inspector, Evans, isn’t kind, though. He’s a bully who looks down on the villagers. He’ll destroy anyone’s life if he thinks it’ll get him the answers he seeks, and he’ll enjoy doing it. We see the community close ranks – whoever did this is one of their own and Evans is an outsider.
Alongside the great characterisation and the interesting plot, what makes the books special is Gallie’s use of language. She can paint a picture with brevity and humour, but still with great insight.
Or she’ll introduce a character in a few words that tell so much…
The murder and investigation aspects put this firmly in the crime fiction genre – indeed, it was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger awards in 1959. But the writing and the depiction of this community lift it straight into literary fiction, which, I understand, is where Gallie usually sits. I think it’s wonderful in either category – I became completely involved with the miners’ lives, laughed with them and cried for them. I’m so glad to have come across Gallie, and I’m looking forward to getting to know her better.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
It’s August, 1926. The men of the little mining village of Cilhendre in the Welsh valleys have been out on strike for three months, and there’s no sign of the strike ending any time soon. Money is short but community spirit is strong and the men look out for each other. They decide to go ahead with their annual carnival despite lack of funds, mainly for the sake of the children. But while they’re all partying, word spreads that a body has been found down by the river. It is Mr Nixon, the mine manager, and it appears he’s been murdered…
Well, this is something special! It’s only 160 pages and yet it packs in an entire community, letting us see their way of life, the friendship and loyalties among them, the strength of families, the central place of the chapel, of faith as an institution. The strike is central to the story but not in a political sense. Gallie is firmly on the side of the miners and places the reader there too. In passing, she shows the inequalities between miners and owners, with managers stuck in the middle. But mostly the strike is simply there to show its impact on the village. I understand from the introduction that Gallie has written about women in other books, but, while there are well-drawn women in this one, I felt it was very definitely focused on the striking men.
The character we spend most time with is DJ “Davy” Williams. A striking miner himself, he is also the local Justice of the Peace, and he’s the man other men come to with their problems. He is self-educated, with a small library of modern authors, and is sensitive to other people’s needs and emotions. Gallie makes him the heart of the story – through him, she shows the conflicted feelings of the community about the murder. Nixon had been generally disliked – he was not just a manager, but a hard one, seen as unfair. There’s no grief for his passing in the village, though there’s some sympathy for his wife. As a JP and an honest man, Davy believes that justice must be done – the murderer must be found. But as a miner and a man who cares about his fellows, he hates the idea of one of the men being caught and hanged. More, he is deeply disturbed at the idea that anyone he knows could have killed another human being.
There’s lots of humour in the book. Gallie has the ability to create conversations between the men which are not just brilliant at reproducing dialect and speech patterns but which reveal each of the men as both individuals and part of a close group. They tell each other stories, often funny, often quite crude (for the time – very innocent fare, these days), and they make fun of each other. But they also know what’s going on in each other’s lives and are there to support each other – not with eloquent speeches, but with practical help, or just by being around when someone feels low. There’s a sprinkling of Welsh words, but they’re easy to understand in context and add to the strong feeling of “Welshness” that pervades the entire book.
But there’s also tragedy, and Gallie does that just as wonderfully, never descending into melodrama or bathos. As the police investigate the murder, we learn about other secrets in the village, and see people terrified that these secrets will come out. But it’s a small village and often the secrets are known – other people just pretend they don’t know out of kindness. The police inspector, Evans, isn’t kind, though. He’s a bully who looks down on the villagers. He’ll destroy anyone’s life if he thinks it’ll get him the answers he seeks, and he’ll enjoy doing it. We see the community close ranks – whoever did this is one of their own and Evans is an outsider.
Alongside the great characterisation and the interesting plot, what makes the books special is Gallie’s use of language. She can paint a picture with brevity and humour, but still with great insight.
Up on the tips there were clusters of people, with bags and sacks, picking bits of coal. On the rowdy tip, they shouted and teased, strikers on holiday, mufflers and flat caps, working boots and fine, new, ladies’ hands. The strike began in May and they'd been hungry many times since, but this was August and Carnival, Carnival Wednesday after August Monday, and their bellies were full of Soup Kitchen dinner.
Or she’ll introduce a character in a few words that tell so much…
Across the street Tommy Davies was sitting, a nice quiet chap. He was used to sitting; he'd been on the Compensation for months before the Strike. Christ, he could cough.
The murder and investigation aspects put this firmly in the crime fiction genre – indeed, it was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger awards in 1959. But the writing and the depiction of this community lift it straight into literary fiction, which, I understand, is where Gallie usually sits. I think it’s wonderful in either category – I became completely involved with the miners’ lives, laughed with them and cried for them. I’m so glad to have come across Gallie, and I’m looking forward to getting to know her better.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
February 23, 2019
Honno Classics have to be my favourite publishers at the moment. Thanks to them I've been introduced to some absolutely brilliant Welsh woman writers - including Amy Dillwyn and one of my very favourite authors, Hilda Vaughan. My latest discovery is Menna Gallie's Strike for a Kingdom, which is a beautifully written account of a murder which occurs during a Welsh miners' strike. It's not a murder mystery as such, although the crime is solved at the end - though I have to say I found this the weakest part of the book as it lapses into melodrama. But where the novel dazzles is in its description of the strikers and their families, and in its poetic language - the latter surely an overdone phrase but in this case I feel thoroughly justified. What a fabulous read. Now on to my next Honno novel...
July 1, 2012
From BBC Radio 4:
It's 1926 and in the small Welsh valleys village of Cilhendre, the miners are on strike. When the local mine's manager is found dead, the murder investigation begins to expose the tensions and secrets of this close knit community.
It's 1926 and in the small Welsh valleys village of Cilhendre, the miners are on strike. When the local mine's manager is found dead, the murder investigation begins to expose the tensions and secrets of this close knit community.
April 4, 2025
An excellent vintage mystery set in the Tawe Valley during the 1926 miners' strike. Full review at: https://murderatthemanse.substack.com...
November 26, 2014
A beautifully written story. The language is almost poetic. Menna Gallie can create an atmosphere and characters really well, full of little details that make all the difference.
Want to Read
September 30, 2019Synopsis: a coal miners' strike is on in the 1920s at a town in Wales - during which the mine manager gets murdered.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews