The 2 stars is really because I feel flat out terrible leaving just 1 star, so I rounded up from the barely 1. I saw her face as she bent to blow out the candle with her mouth in the shape of a kiss, still the smile in the eyes, but now as a mother will look at her child that cries in the arms of another woman, softer, and with more of want. I didn’t even really get into the role of the landscape and nature in the book, a Hardyesque aspect to it, and it’s a wonderful read. Told in alternating passages between the present and the past, the man and the boy, the narrative incorporates the reader in such a way that it becomes almost immediately painful to contemplate your inevitable extraction from it all at the end.

The latter was a cause for internal shame for Huw who acknowledged the impropriety of having feelings for one’s sister-in-law, even though he did not act on them. Try as you might to confine your reminiscences to a specific period in time, distant memories creep up on you and demand to be felt again.

Işte bu kitapta da yıllar sonra, çocukluğumda yaşadığım o doymak bilmez bir merakla takip ettim akışı. The story is set around the Morgan family in a Welsh mining town and told by the narrator protagonist, the older Huw Morgan, as he took a long walk down the memory lane before he starts to leave his hometown for a new life abroad.

Llewellyn's novel of a young boy growing up in Welsh coal mining country at the turn of the 20th Century is so realistic it was believed for years to be autobiographical, a myth Llewellyn himself did not discourage. I especially liked the emphasis on faith and the fact that the mother was so careful about planning for her family’s well-being. Huw's academic ability sets him apart from his elder brothers and enables him to consider a future away from the dangerous coal mines.Both the film and the book were based on the verities of real life in that period in Wales when the wealthy mine owners controlled the lives of men who had to go down into unsafe and filthy coal mines for little pay and great hazard. It is also the story of a young and intelligent boy in the family who could compete favorably for a scholarship which would educate him and whose parents could see him out of the mines and into a professional position. Several of his novels dealt with a Welsh theme, the best-known being How Green Was My Valley (1939), which won international acclaim and was made into a classic Hollywood film. Bronwen, sister-in-law: A gentle character to whom Huw goes when he is troubled or wants to learn information that the adults hold from him.

I started out reading it silently to myself, but after a chapter or so I had to start reading it aloud to my husband. This novel was wonderfully written with beautiful passages on life as well as note-worthy anecdotes on Huw's childhood and amazing family.In 1966 one of these coal-tip mountains collapsed in an avalanche that killed nearly an entire school house full of children and teachers in Aberfan. Angharad’s loveless marriage to Iestyn did not stand in the way of continued friendship between Angharad and Mr Gruffyd which again became a source of gossips. Companies today give great lip service to saving the environment while trading in air pollution waivers and similar. Do also visit Brona’s interesting piece about the controversies around Llewellyn’s claimed heritage and knowledge/experience (I’m still counting this for Dewithon as it’s set in Wales …). And shared with someone else who appreciates the endless nuance and the inviting whisper of a language used to its fullest capacity, wrapped in and around characters who wring you out and own a piece of your soul by the time it is through.

An accident which leaves Huw bed-ridden for a time, and his skills in writing lead him to be privy to matters a child would otherwise be kept away from (from matters of the heart to union business), even if he doesn’t quite understand the import of them all. Finally after almost a month when I was at around page 300 I decided to start skipping "the irrelevant stuff. Huw’s father is the centre of his life, even though he fundamentally disagrees with the actions of his own sons towards unionising, and, appropriate for a review published on Mother’s Day, you can only feel sorry for his poor mother, though she has her own flashes of temper and giddiness, as she is forced to watch her children leave, not able to understand the map of their travels she’s shown. Her feelings were reciprocated, but Mr Gruffyd was keenly aware of his meager financial situations, which was in contrast to the wealth of another suitor of Angharad, Iestyn Evans. Appreciated the Guide to Pronunciation of Welsh names that’s in the back of the book, even though it was only somewhat helpful.The winds came down with the scents of the grass and wild flowers, putting a sweetness to our noses, and taking away so that nobody could tell what beauty had been stolen, only that the winds were old robbers who took something from each grass and flower and gave it back again, and gave a little to each of us, and took it away again. gbThere are flashes of positivity and possibility, with the local clergyman providing education in books, morals and carpentry, and humour, especially with the bad boys, Dai and Cyfartha, who wreak havoc and revenge wherever they go (but are revealed to be devoted and loving friends (a couple? Due to this character, the female first name "Bronwen" – hitherto known only in Wales – was introduced to the English-speaking public at large (see Sheard, K.