A new edition of a novel about a young girl's unrequited love for an Irish doctor which results in her developing an unexplained and seemingly incurable illness, and haunts her casting shadows on her relationship with other men, by a renowned Anglo-Welsh writer, with an introduction by Sue Asbee. First published in 1933.

Argraffiad newydd o nofel am ferch ifanc sydd â'i chariad ofer am feddyg Gwyddelig yn peri iddi ddatblygu salwch anesboniadwy ac ymddangosiadol anwelladwy, ac sy'n dylanwadu ar ei pherthynas gyda dynion eraill, gan lenor Eingl-Gymreig cydnabyddedig, gyda chyflwyniad gan Sue Asbec. Cyhoeddwyd gyntaf yn 1933.

Although Margiad Evans had little Welsh blood, she enjoys a high reputation in the canon of Anglo-Welsh writing. Working, as she did, on the English side of the border, much of what she produced is none the less suffused in Welshness. This novel was originally published in 1933 and is now reprinted in the excellent Honno Classics series.

In it, Evans relates the story of Arabella, an adolescent girl, and the book is divided into three sections. Each of them has a different setting. The first is set in a regimented French school, where Arabella is spending time as a pupil-teacher; in the second she is in a cottage hospital awaiting a diagnosis for a mysterious illness, and in the final fifty pages we find her on a remote hill farm in Carmarthenshire where she is writing a book herself. There is a good deal of animal imagery, as when Arabella’s love for a doctor is mentioned. Her emotional pain is almost painful for the reader too, as when she refers to ‘a fox scratching and rending to get out.’

In both structure and content, The Wooden Doctor is a complex work but one which has its rewards. Sue Ashbee has written a generous and helpful introduction. Honno are to be congratulated on their enterprise in including it in their classics series.

Dewi Roberts

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatad Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.