A Medieval Heroine in Cardiff
My trilogy of novels on Nest ferch Rhys has just arrived in stock at Book Space bookshop in Cardiff.
Book Space opened last year. The owner, Lily Baron, lived in the Shakespeare and Company Bookshop in Paris for a while (see my post https://shepherd.com/best-books/in-idiosyncratic-bookshops-and-lovely-libraries), worked in a bookshop in Bristol, and built the Book Space interior herself.
‘There is nothing like a book. Stories are what connect us to others,’ she says.
Nest ferch Rhys is one of the most famous medieval Welsh women. She had a turbulent life and lived in several Welsh castles. Her father, Rhys ap Tewdwr was king of Deheubarth and the last independent Welsh king. He was killed in battle against the Normans and Nest became a hostage. In my novels, I suggest that she was held hostage at Cardiff Castle by the Norman Montgomery family who had taken over her father’s kingdom (which covered modern-day Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire).
Nest became the mistress of the Norman king, Henry I. She was married to first one Norman knight and then another. AND she was kidnapped by a Welsh prince.
If that whets your appetite, go and search out my books at Book Space at 26a Crwys Road, Cardiff, CF24 4NL.
DeFacto, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRead more about Book Space on their website:
