I was very taken with the first of a series of short works published by Seren Books, retelling the stories of The Mabinogion for twenty-first century ears. And so I tracked down this, the second.
A short work yes, but there is much going on. Stories wrapped about stories, stories wrapped around stories, rich with themes and ideas. And at the centre is a striking modern take on the original story.
But let’s start at the beginning:
“Let me tell you something. If you wanted to curse someone, I don’t know why you would, but if you did, if you wanted to make their life hard, if you wanted to leave them as vulnerable to grief as possible, I reckon you could do a lot worse than make them a woman in a house of men.”
It’s quite a start. Rhian grew up on a Welsh hill farm and she had hopes and dreams. Her parents both died and she found herself pulled away from her friend and tied to her brothers and the family farm. A farm that would be decimated by foot and mouth. Rhian’s brothers take to sheep rustling: taking sheep from the hillside, butchering them in the back of their van on the road to London, and selling the meat to London restaurants.
The writing pull you in and takes you with Rhian as she finally reaches breaking point and runs away, leaving her bloodstained brothers in an alley, counting out their profits.
At the Tower of London she meet an old man who begins to tell her a story. A story set many years earlier, during the war. A very different story that I every bit as gripping, every bit a intriguing as what came before.
Superstition has it that if ravens leave the Tower of London the tower will crumble and disaster will befall England. But how could the ravens survive the Blitz with bomb raining down on the city of London? How could disaster be averted?
The true story, that I had never even considered until I found it here, and the fictional account are both fascinating.
But they aren’t the main event.
A young man named Matthew was sent to Wales to bring ravens back to the tower. There he meets a woman, Branwen, and their story will echo the much older story of Bran and Branwen that is recorded in the The Mabinogion.
The story is poetic, powerful and dramatic. Themes echo from the old legend, through the framing story to the contemporary retelling. And it works beautifully because the human emotions at its heart are utterly real.
I was so captivated by the wonderful storytelling that it was only when I read the fitting final words that I realised quite how much this little book had held.
My anticipation for the next two installments in this series, due to be published this month could not be higher.
This little volume sounds like it has so much in it, so many layers of stories.
Layer is just the right word Margot. Two compelling fictions, the intriguing problem of ther ravens, and they worked so well together.
This sounds wonderful! My copy of The Mabinogion lives on the shelf by my bed, so you can imagine how interested I am to read about this series – thank you.
I must confess that I bought a copy of The Mabinogion a few years ago when there was a much-praised new edition, but it just sat on the shelves. I loved the idea of it but it was just too intimidating as a whole. But reading story by story with the Seren series is working beautifully.
The Mabinogion has also intimidated me so this series sounds ideal.
I saw Owen Sheers on a TV programme a while ago, which made me want to read his books. The only one I have is ‘Resistance’, although I haven’t read it yet.
This sounds really, really good, and I thank you for bringing it to my attention. Resistance is on my shelf of WWII books, but I haven’t read it yet. I’ll link to your review on War Through the Generations soon.