This Sweet & Bitter Earth

by Alexander Cordell

The men of turn-of-the-century Welsh slate quarries live dangerous, unhealthy lives. As a boy, Toby Davies joins them, and is taught some harsh lessons about life. He also learns the love of two women, Bron and Nanwen O'Hara.

Genres: Historical Fiction, British Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Anglo-Welsh writer born to an army family in what was then Ceylon.

After retiring from the army he adopted Wales as home and began to write of the country and its history. His first, and best-known novel, the Rape of the Fair Country (first in the Mortymer Trilogy) was a million selling best-seller in its day.

Reviews

[J V Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful.

Alexander Cordell at his best. So beautifully written. Pure descriptive poetry that puts the reader right in the heart of the action. 60 years ago I had a friend from Caerphilly who worked In the Senghenny mine who told me about the disaster so this tale made me appreciate the horror of it. How many people knew that Winston Churchill sent in the troops to quell the riots in the Rhonnda? But who could blame the miners when all were starving. The lovely prose of the book never distills the horror of that period of Welsh history.

[Gillian Sealey]

My favourite! History of the area where I was born & bred!

[John Hilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of a very strong field, probably his best book.

[GRANT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Led me to some family history work as I had a distant cousin in the mining disaster in this book. See my blog for my "book report": http://www.moderatebutpassionate.com/...

[Dai Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully told story of life and times in Wales in the recent past by this excellent story teller.