Matt Addis completely captured the mood of the book from the start. The characters all had their own personalities, which is quite a feat with such a cast of supporting roles, and he brought a warm lilt to the narrative; like the style of the book itself, his storytelling was subtle yet powerful. For me, the best parts of this story were the details of everyday life, love and survival during a period when working people had few choices or freedoms. Cordell's prose often verges on the poetic to create a vivid picture of the life and times of Iestyn Mortymer. I was particularly interested in the story of Iestyn's older sister, Morfydd, who struggles against convention and suffers for her pioneering opinions on politics and the role of women I live in Newport, and although this story is fiction it has a basis in the areas history, which makes it very interesting to me, but it is a great story for anyone, it is earthy and has humour, romance and gives an alternative view re the conditions suffered by the workers There were elements I did enjoy in the latter half of the book. The book does well to capture the community control of the Scotch Cattle and the excitement surrounding the growing Chartist movement. Zephaniah Williams and John Frost were and are giants of the working class campaign for universal (male) suffrage, political transparency and fairness for all. Industrially it was volatile moment in Welsh history and radical politics and protest came to the fore against shameful exploitation and destruction, there were even whispers of a Welsh Republic. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Welsh history, but even I only just managed to keep up with where Eames was leading. It all felt like there was too much ‘telling’; as though I’d turned up at a history lecture and needed a fast recap on last week’s notes. And that’s fine if you already know what’s going on, but if you are hoping for some kind of introduction to Welsh history, I’m afraid you are going to feel excluded by Eames’s adaptation, and this seemed to cater only for those already initiated.

I would listen to this again and again, I had read the book before (hard copy) and enjoyed it but this added a new dimension The failure of the works (in 1919) was a devastating blow to the local community, as it had depended heavily on the works for its economic livelihood.” But he was still. Quite still he lay in the fading light of the torches, and his hands were frozen to the musket he held. I wish to God the English had stayed in England and ripped their own fields and burst their own mountains.” The owners will not negotiate and we have been sitting tight for too long. It is war if they insist in it. It has taken me twenty years of loyalty to learn that they make profits out of peace”.Rape of the Fair Country is a novel by Alexander Cordell, first published in 1959. It is the first in Cordell's "Mortymer Trilogy", followed by The Hosts Of Rebecca (1960) and Song of the Earth (1969). [1] The book has been translated into seventeen languages. In addition to the book having been adapted for numerous plays over the years and more recently. [2] The whole book is an emotional journey! I was pleased and relieved when life and relationships went well for the Mortymer family, annoyed by some of the pig-headed opinions inflicted on it from within and without, and saddened by the people who were lost along the way What does Matt Addis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

But for me, as a very proud Welshman, it can be a little anti-English in its sentiments at times. The author isn't Welsh, though he settled here eventually, and had an obviously very strong affinity with the country. But in his constant anti English rantings;Yes, indeed! You cheeky hobbledehoy! And Bacon the Pig before the Crawshays? God alive, we thought him bad enough. What right have you to march for freedom, Garndyrus, if you have not worked the firebox under Bacon and Crawshay? Tell me, have you seen Cyfarthfa by night even?” Rape Of The Fair Country’ is a dramatic account of the industrial revolution in the raw. It is set in the early years of the nineteenth century, when that turbulent and cruel period in British history was in full flight - destroying the countryside and creating dreadful sufferings for the working population – whose former gentle life in green fields was replaced by brutal labour in quarries, factories, coal mines and ironworks.

My mum suggested this book to me after I watched the episode of the crown that surrounded the Aberfan disaster. My grandfather was Welsh, and my great grandparents came to Canada because the working conditions in Wales were so atrocious.For more from Matt Addiss we can recommend his narrations of Princes Gate and Stalin's Gold, both written by Mark Ellis.

I liked the difference in voices, after a few minutes listening you knew who was talking by the subtle changes in characterisation. I found it easy to listen to and very compelling, there was a consistency in the performance which never made the recording boring, I thought it was a great performancePoeetiline ülimasendav naturalistlik-realistlik pilguheit 19. sajandi esimese poole Walesi rauasulatustööstusesse, ehk siis Inglise industrialismi sünnivaludele. Neidsamu sünnivalusid jälgitakse läbi Mortymeride perekonna suht traagilise käekäigu. Ehedat autentsust lisavad walesikeelsed väljendid ja mõningad tavad. Eks see raamat vene ajal 1964. aastal ilmuski kuna teda saab ka kirjeldada kui "tööliste võitlust kapitalistlike ekspluataatorite vastu" ja eks pidanud marksismi klassikud tšartiste miskiteks eel-revolutsionäärideks niikuinii, kahe silma vahele on aga jäänud täiesti keltidest waleslaste suht vabad abielueelsed suguelukombed ja julmad kaklused millega nad omavahel tülisid lahendasid, samuti walesi tööliste suht vankumatu ja konservatiivne usklikkus. Olles seda raamatut lugenud vähemalt 10 korda on mind alati siiski haaranud äärmine poeetiline traagika, mis tegelastele osaks saab, samuti walesi looduse ülistus. There also exist audio versions of the book in circulation read by Philip Madoc and there have been successive attempts to get the book made into a film. [3] Two of the women in the story – Iestyn’s sister Morfydd and the girl he eventually marries, Mari Dirion– work in the mines crawling on all fours dragging coal tubs. When Mari become pregnant she stays in the job, and Morfydd observes: One of the villains of the book is the Ironmaster of Merthyr Tydfil by the River Taff, William Crawshay. Here is an excerpt from the book: an old man, an iron “puddler”, blind, is dying by the roadside. Talking about joining the union/going on strike after one of the family is badly injured in the foundry: