Geraint Goodwin was born in Wales in 1903. He started writing at an early age, his first success being at a local eisteddfod. As a young man he made his living as a journalist in London, where he wrote his first book Conversations with George Moore, and followed it with Call by Yesterday. It was not, however, until he reached the age of thirty-two that he published his first work of fiction. The Heyday in the Blood made a considerable impression on the critics, and its author was hailed as a second Thomas Hardy. Three more books, The White Farm, a collection of short stories Watch for the Morning and Come Michaelmas followed, the last of which was written during an increasing struggle against ill-health. His untimely death in 1941 brought to an end a brilliant literary career which had barely time to begin. He was married and had two children, a girl and a boy.

The village of Tanygraig on the Welsh-English border is the setting for this passionate novel of love and its consequences. Beti, the beautiful and wilful daughter of a pub landlord, is pursued by two men: Llew, her aggressive, red-haired cousin, and Evan, the dreamy miller and would-be poet. She has to make a choice but it's not her future alone that depends on her decision. She and Tanygraig are positioned precariously on borders of class, nation, language, and changing times. In this enduring novel by Geraint Goodwin, first published in 1936, Wales is associated with tradition and stability, England connotes modernity and movement. Beti is conscious of living at a temporal border: ‘The old way of things was ending; she had come at the end of one age and the beginning of another. Wales would be the last to go – but it was going…’

"It has filled me with a sense of seeing great talent trying its first flight, which I have not experienced since reading D.H Lawrence’s The White Peacock."
Howard Spring

"Geraint Goodwin’s novels and short stories have bequeathed to us a vivid, moving and unsparing picture of early twentieth century Newtown and the surrounding countryside."
Mary Oldham

"It is a mystery why a minor masterpiece like The Heyday of the Blood has been overlooked. Alternately comic and touching, this beautifully-observed and poetic chronicle of rural life deserves to be as widely enjoyed as the novels of H E Bates, Laurie Lee and even Thomas Hardy. Set on the border between Wales and England in the years of the Depression, The Heyday of the Blood describes the changes being wrought by modernisation and the reactions of the idiosyncratic inhabitants, which range from capitulation to resistance via drunken pranks. It is also a poignant romance: will the beautiful Beti choose the dreamy poet or the fiery poacher? And how will her father, the rambunctious keeper of the Red Lion Inn, respond?"
Paul Duerdan

"Set on the Welsh English border in the 1930’s, The Heyday in the Blood explores issues of nationality, language and class with a humorous yet tragic story attached. Following the life of Beti Tudor, a pub landlord’s daughter, this novel is a product of its time and explores issues that are still up for debate nowadays. The in-depth descriptions of places and situations create a vivid image for the reader, providing an interesting if challenging read."
Review in Buzz magazine