In the characteristic style of the 'Real' series, this book mixes autobiography, topography and history in relation to Aberystwyth. Its languages, university, community, port-turned-marina, library and both transient and static populations produce an enthralling portrait of the famous town.

Llyfr sy'n sôn am Aberystwyth yn arddull nodweddiadol cyfres 'Real', ac mewn modd sy'n gyfuniad o hunangofiant, disgrifiad a hanes. Bwrir golwg ar ei hieithoedd, ei phrifysgol, y gymuned, y porthladd-marina, a'r boblogaeth sefydlog a mudol; y cyfan yn creu darlun difyr o'r dref enwog.

This is the latest in Parthian’s ‘Real’ series and it’s brilliant. The book is as quirky and rich as the town and area it is about. As Peter Finch says: ‘Essential reading if you live here and pretty good even if you don’t.’

If you do live here, curiosity is bound to take you first to the section on your own village or part of town. Since the text is coherently arranged and provided with an excellent index, this is really easy to do and I duly went straight to Tal-y-bont: five lovely pages illustrated by three rather grainy black-and-white photographs (they’re all like that, but you get used to it and it adds to the atmosphere) of significant landmarks: Ruth Jên’s mural, the Old Police Station housing the independent publisher, Y Lolfa, and the two pubs.

The artistic, political, historical, literary, cultural, social, natural and environmental – Griffiths’s writing embraces them all in a commentary that somehow manages to be both pleasantly meandering and highly focused. He quotes from a wide range of references, from George Borrow and Geraldus Cambrensis to Mike Parker and W. J. Lewis, and chats about or with all sorts of interesting folk associated with each area: Caradoc Evans alongside Keith Morris in one part of Aberystwyth, John Barnie and Lucy Gough in Comins Coch, William Hope Hodgson and Lindsay Ashford in Borth. The descriptions of buildings and landscape are lyrical, with ‘a cross-hatching of terraces and ginnels’ in the town and ‘oxters of trees’ in the countryside. Everything is interwoven with Griffiths’s personal memories, experiences and anecdotes and the whole book is infused with his great love of the area.

My sense is that Griffiths genuinely enjoyed writing this book and it’s a pleasure to read – one to be dipped into often.

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.