Sian James - Böcker

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A Small Country is the story of the Evans family, farmers in Carmarthenshire. In the summer of 1914 son Tom returns from Oxford to find the family falling apart. His handsome father has gone to live with schoolmistress Miriam Lewis, who is to have his child. His mother, broken-hearted, lies ill in bed, while his beautiful sister Catrin longs to leave for London and art college. Soon Tom's college friend Edward will arrive to holiday with them, half-aware of his attraction to Catrin but already engaged to Rose, a supporter of the Suffragettes. And Tom himself is in debt and disillusioned with his proposed legal career. He would like to manage Hendre Ddu, the family farm, but finds that family troubles and the approach of war set him on a very different course.Sian James interweaves the lives of her characters with skill and understanding as they face the complications of family breakdown, love, war and propriety. Her ear for dialogue and eye for detail make A Small Country a hugely enjoyable novel.Twice-winner of the Yorkshire Post Prize, Sian James is the author of nine novels, including Storm at Arberth and A Small Country. She was born near Llandysul, Cardiganshire and educated at Aberystwyth.

Siân James brings her customary narrative flair and ear for dialogue to this beautifully-observed novel of love, scandal and grief set in wartime rural Wales.For three years, young teacher Rhian Evans has lived a life of isolation in her small village, patiently awaiting the return of her soldier-husband, Huw. While Rhian struggles to stay true to her strict Chapel upbringing, her carefree lodger Ilona Hughes apparently has no such concerns, seeming to live life as she pleases.As Rhian's loneliness grows, Ilona's influence leads her friend to confront the conflicting passions at work within her. Faced with the interests of art-teacher Gwynn Morgan (a married man with whom Rhian fell in love before meeting her husband) she finds herself questioning the morals imposed upon her by her upbringing, and eventually even her love for her absent husband. Soon, Rhian's revived affections for Gwynn overpower both her loyalty to Huw and the disapproval of certain members of the community, leading the couple to embark on a passionate affair, just as Gwynn himself is called-up to fight.But Rhian's sadness at his departure is nothing compared to her devastation when she learns of his death only a few weeks later; wracked by grief, loneliness and guilt, she endeavours to make peace with her community, and particularly with Gwynn Morgan's urbane French widow.Perceptive, funny and moving, Love & War is a poignant and beautifully-plotted portrait of one rural community during the Second World War. Twice-winner of the Yorkshire Post Prize, Sian James is the author of nine novels, including Storm at Arberth and A Small Country. She was born near Llandysul, Cardiganshire and educated at Aberystwyth.

Return to Hendre Ddu is a tumultuous sequel to Sîan James' classic novel A Small Country. Once again Sîan James' talent for character and dialogue weaves an intriguing tale of early twentieth century family life in rural Wales.Though Hendre Ddu, the home farm of the Evans family of Carmarthenshire, looks peaceful, it is the middle of the First World war and lives have been shattered here too.A Small Country ended with Catrin Evans' sweetheart, Edward, killed in action and now the son of the farm, Tom Evans, returns from the front disabled. The shock is too much for their stalwart housekeeper Nano Rees.But life goes on and Tom and his father Josi, with his new wife Lowri, have their own battle to fight just keeping the farmhouse afloat. At first all seems to be going well, but increasingly tangled romances and financial realities bring heartache and new challenges for the troubled Evans family.Twice-winner of the Yorkshire Post Prize, Sian James is the author of nine novels, including Storm at Arberth and A Small Country. She was born near Llandysul, Cardiganshire and educated at Aberystwyth.

First published in 2000, this Seren edition is a reprint of one of Siân James' most widely acclaimed novels. Siân James writes fluently, with both panache and humour. Her style is at once homely, unpretentious and brilliantly realistic.Returning home to Wales for her mother's funeral, actress Kate Rivers is overwhelmed by her past and forced to take stock of her life. Renewing old friendships and facing up to the trials of her past, Kate finds herself questioning her relationship with photographer Paul, and drawn to her charismatic - and married - cousin, Rhydian. But is her affair a second chance at happiness, or just a dangerous infatuation? Both in her central characters and the land in which they live, James' novel reveals a spirit which, despite bleakness and tragedy, cannot be broken."Siân James writes fluently and with lively humour." – The Times"A superb ear for dialogue and a marksman's eye for revealing detail." Sunday TimesSiân James was brought up and educated in west Wales. She is the author of twelve novels, including Storm at Arberth (Seren, 1995), Love and War (Seren, 2004) and Return to Hendre Ddu (Seren, 2009), and two collections of short stories. She has twice won the Yorkshire Post Prize for Fiction, and her novel A Small Country was filmed as the award-winning Calon Gaeth in 2006. Her translation of Kate Roberts' The Awakening is also published by Seren (2006).

This evocative memoir, beautifully illustrated by Pat Gregory, will delight all kinds of readers, and follows on from her success with earlier books.