If you’re looking for ideas on what to read for Reading Wales Month, check out some of the latest books by Welsh authors. They’ve either been published since Reading Wales Month ’25 or are about to be released. Hope you find something to suit your mood.
Bitter Honey by Caryl Lewis
Caryl Lewis’s second novel in the English language is a tale of love and redemption. At its heart is a recently widowed woman who examines her long marriage through letters left by her bee-keeping husband. I’m hoping this will be as good as her first English-language novel Drift.
Published June 2025
Pulse by Cynan Jones
In this collection of six short stories Cynan Jones considers the relationship between man and nature. Who better than Cynan, who comes from a farming family, to consider the challenges faced by small rural communities in Wales.
Published June 2025
Weights and Measures by Jane Fraser
This novel follows a family who live in a working class suburb of Swansea in Glamorgan. Wales, during the early days of WW2. Europe is already in the thick of the conflict but in this little corner of Britain, the war feels very distant and unreal. After months when nothing seems to happen, this family are ill prepared for reality.
Published October 2025
Glass Houses by Francesca Reece
Reece’s novel looks at the impact of class divisions and a growing clamour for Welsh independence which turned violent in the 1980s. Glass Houses was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year in 2025.
Every Time We Burn by Emma Kavanagh
Kavanagh’s latest novel is an eco-thriller set in California, told in multiple perspectives. In one version of the narrative, the father of the main character dies early on in the book and the picture-perfect town in which she lives is threatened by a forest fire. In a different version, the father is very much alive and there is no fire.
The House of Water by Fflur Dafydd
The House of Water has a central character who is writing an encyclopaedia which gives an alternative version of Wales, its landmarks and historical figures. Each entry provides a clue about the tragic events that befell a family one night. To coincide with publication of the paperback edition, Fflur Dafydd has released selected entries from the encyclopaedia on the her Instagram channel.
Published Jan 2025
The Hill in the Dark Grove by Liam Higginson
This debut novel focuses on Carwyn and Rhian who run a sheep farm in North Wales. It’s a brutal life, the farm is remote and the winters cold and harsh. But it’s the only life Carwyn has ever known. The couple’s life changes when Carwyn discovers a buried prehistoric ruin in one of the fields on their land, his curiosity quickly descending into obsession.
Published end Dec 2025
Witsh by Mari Ellis Dunning
It’s in 1597 in Dunning’s debut novel set in a fictional Welsh village where accusations of witchcraft gain momentum. After several miscarriages, one bereft woman seeks the help of a local soothsayer, putting herself and the women around her in danger.
Published October 2025
Communion by Jon Don
This debut novel takes us to the industrial landscape of South Wales and the failed aspirations of a local lad to become a priest.
Due for release April 2026
A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland
In a small Welsh town in the late 1980s two men embark upon a relationship they dare not admit. Written against the backdrop of debates about the teaching of same sex relationships and homosexuality and the HiV crisis, this is a touching story of a love that dare not speak its name.
A Room Above a Shop was voted by festival goers as Hay Festival Book of the Year 2025. ,
Published March 2025. Due for release in paperback March 26, 2026.
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