How Green Was My Valley

Here is a book deserving of wide attention,and destined, in my opinion, for an excellent press, but a slow pace of recognition. There is tremendous emotional power in the chronicle of a Welsh family, in a mining village which, back in the '80's and the '90's still flourished, and blossomed, with no slag-heaps to transform the mountain sides, no poverty stalking hunger through the land. The plot is no plot at all, in the conventional sense; here is where it may fail to appeal to popular taste. But in characterization, in vigorous scenes, in the picture of the everyday life of the family and the village, in tragic scenes and in festive ones, the book cuts deep into our hearts. It is a profoundly moving story, realistic and yet poignantly lyr??. There is something of the quality of Twenty Years A-Growing. There is a closeness to the soil - and the people - that suggests Mary Webb. There is a simplicity that makes it read like a peasant saga, and yet there is occasional over-playing of the heroic. The story is told by Huw, looking back from the vantage point of old age to the days of his youth, as one of a large family, when green was my valley - and his language is still tinged with the almost Biblical overtones of his people. Don't overlook this book; you can sell it to customers who will appreciate its rare quality. The publisher's enthusiasm and backing will start the ball rolling and may bring it the success it should get. (Kirkus Reviews)