The Top Ten Tuesday topic this week is Books Set In X which Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl explains could be interpreted as books set in “a specific continent or country, a state, in outer space, underwater, on a ship or boat, at the beach, etc.“

I’ve chosen books that are set in my home country of Wales.

The first group have all been written by authors from Wales.

Authors From Wales

The Long Dry by Cynan Jones.  Reviewed here

This novella is typical of Cynan Jones’s work with its closely observed detail; sparse sentences and evocative language. Here he offers an exceptionally tense tale of a marriage between a farmer and his wife that is crumbling in silence and misunderstanding

One Moonlit Night/Un Nos Ola Leuad by Caradog Pritchard Reviewed here

Priitchard’s novel is set in a small slate quarrying community in North Wales as seen through the eyes of a young boy. It’s a sad tale of poverty and tragedy enlivened by moments of joy. There are some fabulous set piece scenes including the time when the entire community unites in song.

Drift by Caryl Lewis

Caryl Lewis is a television scriptwriter and an award winning poet who has written fiction for children and adults all in the Welsh language.Drift , her first venture into writing in English, is a mesmerising tale set in a small bay on the North Wales coast. The plot revolves around a Syrian mapmaker held prisoner at a nearby army camp, and his encounter with a local girl who has a strange affinity with the sea. 

The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi

Cardiff’s Tiger Bay forms the backdrop to The Hiding Place , a deeply immersive saga of the immigrant families who made this part of the city their home. Through the Gauci family we see a stark portrayal of the reality of their lives in the post-war decades: one of poverty, neglect and mental illness.

None So Blind by Alis Hawkins Reviewed here

This is the first in a series of historical crime fiction novels taking us to rural communities in Wales in the nineteenth century. None So Blind takes place against a background of the Rebecca Riots —  a period of rural unrest when tenant farmers rose up in protest over rising rents for farmland at a time of falling prices for sheep and cattle

Novels Set in Wales

This second group features novels where authors from outside of Wales have chosen the country as a setting.

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe Reviewed here

At the heart of this debut novel is a real life disaster in 1966 when coal and mud slid down a Welsh mountain side and engulfed a village school, killing 100 children. The tragedy is seen through the eyes of a volunteer embalmer who travelled to Wales to tend to the victims. What he experiences over the next few nights in the makeshift mortuary in Aberfan, re-awakens memories of his own childhood trauma. 

The Old Devils  by Kingsley Amis Reviewed here

This Booker Prize winning novel from 1986 features a bunch of friends from university who spend every day in retirement ensconced in the pub. While the men are knocking back pints of beer, their wives are getting stuck into bottles of wine. This settled, if empty existence, is upset by a decision by one of the old gang to return to Wales after a 30 year absence. It’s time for old resentments to rear their head once more.

The Citadel by A J Cronin Reviewed here

Cronin used his own experience as a doctor in Wales for a novel tracing the career of a newly qualified medical man who arrives in South Wales full of ideas and passion. He is shocked by the conditions he encounters and the lax attitudes shown by the town’s other doctors who dole out useless remedies, don’t follow basic hygiene practices and are unwilling to try any new approaches. Cronin’s novel is often cited as the inspiration for the birth of the National Health Service in the UK.

Here Be Dragons by Sharon Penman

It’s easily 30 years since I read Here be Dragons, part one of a trilogy focused on the conflict between Llewellyn , Prince of North Wales and the English kings. Llewellyn dreams of a strong, united Wales but the English monarchs see that as a threat and are determined to bring the Welsh to heel. This book sees Llewellyn marry the king’s daughter as an attempt to broker a truce. Books two and three show how it all breaks down.

On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin

Another novel I read many years ago which left a lasting impression. Chatwin’s novel is set on a remote sheep farm in the Black Mountains of Wales near Hay on Wye (now famous for its book festival). This is home to a pair of identical twin brothers who work the land together, sleep in the same bed and even share the same dreams. The farmhouse and the surrounding fields represent their entire existence for some 80 years. They have left it only once — via a brief childhood holiday at the seaside — and the barely introduces.