The future looks bleak for Aidan Walsh. He stands to lose his job as the last major employer in a dead-end Welsh town prepares to close its factory and relocate to India. Then Aidan hatches a startling plan. This work explores the ties of love, friendship, family and community in a story of humour, human frailty, resourcefulness and triumph.

Y mae'r dyfodol yn edrych yn dywyll i Aidan Walsh. Gallai golli'i swydd oherwydd bod yr unig gyflogwr mawr sy'n weddill mewn tref gyffredin yng Nghymru yn paratoi i gau'r ffatri ac adleoli yn India. Ond mae gan Aidan gynllun. Y mae'r stori yn ymdrin â themâu serch, cyfeillgarwch, teulu a chymuned, a hynny yn gymysg â hiwmor, breuder dyn, dyfeisgarwch a buddugoliaeth.

Aidan Walsh is in his mid-fifties; his wife is dead and his two children, Dylan and Shauna, are grown up and have left home. Aidan lives in a small industrial Welsh town and works for Sunny Jim Electronics – a company that has received massive Government subsidies to create employment in a run-down area. His daily routine comprises of work, a couple of pints in the pub with his mates, Russell, Wilf and Gwyn, and then home for a TV dinner. He is neither happy nor particularly unhappy. Life trundles on. But everything changes when Sunny Jim declare that they are closing down their factory and warehouse and relocating to India. Aidan and his friends and more than a thousand other workers will lose their jobs. Incensed by the decision, Aidan is goaded out of his lifelong apathy into individual political action – he decides to bury himself alive in his back garden to protest against the closure and draw attention to the workers’ plight.

This is a gentle, warm-hearted story of the ordinary man taking on global capitalism. Whilst clearly addressing some major social and political issues, Ray French maintains a light-hearted and compassionate tone and keeps the focus on the individual. The relationships between the four middle-aged men are particularly well drawn and Aidan’s relationships with his children have genuine depth and ambivalence. The psychological processes and change that Aidan undergoes as a result of being buried alive and becoming something of a celebrity, both in the local community and beyond, are convincingly portrayed, without too heavy a hand.

Going Under is an unpretentious novel, full of gentle humour and humanity and with some very funny and touching moments.

Suzy Ceulan Hughes

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment 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 ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.