At the heart of Dai Country - the central valleys of twentieth-century south Wales from the 1930s to the 1970s - was the metropolis of Pontypridd, and it is from this vantage point in time and space that Alun Richards cast his baleful eye on the personal relationships and social ambitions of the inhabitants of this much-fabled country.

Gosodir y straeon byrion sy'n Dai Country yng nghymoedd de Cymru yn ystod y cyfnod rhwng 1930 ac 1970, gyda Phontypridd yn ganolbwynt. Mae Alun Richards yn bwrw golwg ar berthynas pobl â'i gilydd ac ar uchelgais cymdeithasol trigolion Pontypridd.

One of the most recent additions to the glorious Library of Wales series, Dai Country brings together a selection of short fiction and autobiography by this prolific writer and chronicler of life in the south Wales valleys from the 1930s through to the late 1970s. It’s a judicious selection, offering a taste of Richards’ writing that will undoubtedly lead many readers to seek out more of his work.

The book begins with the early part of Richards’ memoir, Days of Absence, covering his life up until he leaves school to train as a teacher. Some of the recollections are vivid and compelling, and the whole is suffused with his deep affection for his hometown of Pontypridd and with a sense of belonging, rootedness and identity – themes that recur again and again in the stories, some of which clearly draw on his personal experiences. In ‘Going to the Flames’, the narrator remembers his visits as a boy, bearing the gift of his grandmother’s Welsh cakes and teisen lap, to an old man who is clearly feared and ostracised by the adult community. “It is only looking back that one sees how complicated are issues which seemed too simple.”

This looking back, this seeing first through the eyes of youth or innocence and then again through the lens of maturity and experience, is a stylistic device that Richards uses to consummate effect in his stories, giving his characters a complexity and emotional depth that are quite extraordinary. Who could forget the beautiful, ambitious Dorothea Lemon and her steadfast stooge Will Willis in ‘Dream Girl’? Or Elmyra’s terror, in ‘The Scandalous Thoughts of Elmyra Mouth’, at the sudden, unprecedented notion that her husband might be unfaithful to her? Or poor Melville’s posturing in ‘The Former Miss Merthyr Tydfil’? Working on many levels, Richards’ stories and characters linger long in the mind.

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.