Cardiff author Peter Luther has just launched his second novel, The Mourning Vessels . It is loosely located in his favourite town of Tenby. The fast paced supernatural thriller is based on the machinations of a Satanic coven –The Divine Sentiment and the story follows the main character Ellen’s quest to unriddle their sinister operations and free the souls of her dead parents.

Peter Luther ’s first novel Dark Covenant has already been reprinted twice by Ceredigion based publishers Y Lolfa, and earned him the tag of the “Welsh Dan Brown”. It was described as a “word of mouth sensation” in the Times and other reviewers have described his work as “macabre and compelling”, “a real page turner with a twist of Oscar Wild”, “genre hopping rollercoaster ride” with many tipping him for bigger things.

Although he is a new face, he has built a loyal band of underground followers, as testified by the response to his first book on his website www.peterluther.co.uk . His fans will be pleased to hear that Peter revealed at the launch of Mourning Vessels, in Waterstone’s Cardiff , that he has already written his third novel Precious Cargo and hopes to see it published next year.

Peter Luther , a successful solicitor and an accomplished musician, admits that his fictional work is influenced by his personal experiences, his latest born from the tragic loss of both his parents and his next relates to his wife’s experiences of receiving IVF treatment. He will be touring bookshops throughout Britain in November and December.

The Mourning Vessels in available in bookshops and www.ylolfa.com priced at £7.95.

Peter Luther will be signing copies of Mourning Vessels at the following shops in November

November 1 November
Waterstones, 9-11 Regent Street Wrexham at 11:00am – 1:00pm
Waterstones, 14 Eastgate Row, Chester at 2:30pm – 4:30pm
8 November
Waterstones Nottingham, 1-5 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham at 11:00am – 1:00pm
15 November
Waterstones, 4a High Street, Abergavenny at 11:00am – 1:00pm
Borders, New Park Shopping Centre, Llantrisant at 2:30pm – 4:30pm
22 November
Borders, 14 The Hayes, Cardiff at 1:30pm – 3:30pm
29 November
Waterstones Chiswick, 220-226 Chiswick High Road, Chiswick at 11:30am – 1:30pm

December and January dates to be confirmed

The Vanity Rooms by Peter Luther - A Review

The Vanity Rooms is the third episode in the Honeyman saga in which a de-frocked Baptist minister battles an old, demonic Welsh priesthood.

Precious Cargo

Dark Covenant

The Mourning Vessels

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The estate agent begins to pay attention when she learns that he is an aspiring writer and his name is Kris Knight. She remembers her client telling her:-

" He is wanting to be artist.
His name is chesspiece."

She drives at speed across Cardiff Bay to ''The Gathering'' an 18th century dwelling with stunning interior decor and a sinister past. An inscription in the hallway reads:-

" It became customary to gather in front of the Huts or around a large tree: song and dance, true children of Love and Leisure, became the amusement or rather occupation of idle men and women gathered together. Everyone began to look at everyone else and to wish to be looked at himself, and public esteem acquired a price. "

The one who sang or danced the best, the handsomest, the strongest, the most skilful, or the most eloquent came to be highly regarded, and this was the first step at once toward inequality and vice: from these preferences arose vanity and contempt on the one hand, shame and envy on the other. "

But there is no pressure to take the vacant room:-

" We can leave if you want ", she said.
" What? "
" Kris, " she said....." It's important that you know that. In fact they told me to say that. You dont have to see the room. You can just go. "

But Kris Knight does not leave soon enough and he becomes embroiled in the machinations of Temple 1313. Believing initially, that he has found a benign and benevolent sponsor for his artistic endeavours, he is convinced that his boundless ambition will be rewarded with success and popular acclaim under their guidance. The sinister ''cellphone'' he is given and the extraordinary ''real life'' chess game that he is forced to play soon disabuse him of this notion. He comes to realise that, in order to escape, he must master the game or face a life of hellish servitude.

This is ''sophisticated horror'' and Peter Luther continues to provide his growing audience with exquisitely crafted and electrifying supernatural thrillers.

Whatever your take on the authors fantastical plot devices and whatever you make of his twisted and macabre supernatural themes you will not be able to put this book down until you reach the last page. Be warned! You too will become a temporary tenant of ''The Gathering''.

Peter Luther is an author of exquisitely crafted and electrifying supernatural thrillers. Peter, who lives in Cardiff has been referred to as the ''Welsh Dan Brown''. In 2010 AmeriCymru spoke to Peter about this comparison, and other matters including his new ( then forthcoming ) novel The Vanity Rooms   Visit Peter''s website here

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AmeriCymru: In what way has your background as a lawyer ( attorney ) helped you as a fiction writer?

Peter: In my opinion there is no better training for writing fiction than being a lawyer. You meet interesting people and encounter a lot of unusual situations.

Dark Covenant mirrors the rough and tumble of my career as a practising solicitor, but the law does spill over to my other novels. There is an understanding probate solicitor in The Mourning Vessels , and a stressed criminal solicitor in Precious Cargo .

I also think being a lawyer hones your analytical skills: my stories have very tight plot structures, with strict rules within the bizarre world I have created. I’m sure this is partly as a result of my legal training.

On a general note, I think life experience is very important for being a novelist. I tried writing in my early twenties, but when I returned to it in my late thirties my perspective was far more rounded.

AmeriCymru: All your novels so far have been set in Wales. Is there any particular reason for that or is it just familiarity with the area?

Peter: I do a lot of signings in England, and the readers I meet are always pleased to see a story set in Wales. I don’t think there are enough of them east of the Severn Bridge. It’s a beautiful, dramatic country with inexhaustible sources of inspiration.

The Mourning Vessels is set in Tenby, probably my favourite place in the whole world.

The majority of my scenes are however set in my home city of Cardiff, which is because of my familiarity with the area.

AmeriCymru: Were you a horror fiction fan? Are there any particular horror writers whose style you admired or were inspired by?

Peter: I’m not a horror fiction fan per se, but I love anything that is original and well-conceived. In this respect I was very influenced, along with the rest of my generation, by the early Stephen King novels.

The Mourning Vessels involves bereavement counsellors visiting the recently bereaved and offering to ‘solve’ their grief, which they achieve by trapping the departed in the things they coveted in life. These objects - clocks, typewriters, even a bespoke Cluedo board (or is that Clue in America?) - then turn evil and leprous. This has more than an echo of Pet Semetery. It’s sort of a Pet Semetery with antiques...

AmeriCymru: You are quoted as saying that your novels are 'human interest stories masquerading as horror fiction' - what do you mean by that?

Peter: 100,000 words of things that go bump in the night would leave me asleep on my Mac. I need to write about the things that are important to me, which have relevance to my own experience. My characters are ordinary folk with all the ordinary problems: career, money, bereavement, fertility, parenthood. This gives the books what I would describe as their emotional heart, which hopefully leaves a mark on the reader even after all the paranormal conceits and puzzles have been digested, and which saves them from being left on train seats...

AmeriCymru: Could you have written your characters, their relationships and situations in a non-genre drama or in other genres? If so, what do you think you would have to change, if anything?

Peter: That’s a difficult question. If I have a talent, it is that I can take a completely off-the-wall concept and make it believable, and so I cannot really imagine writing in any other genre. With the supernatural anything is possible, and that’s what holds my interest.

That said, I can see myself writing a legal/corporate thriller one day, but it would need to have a very unusual angle.

AmeriCymru: You described your first novel, Dark Covenant , as "a parable of materialism" and your second, The Mourning Vessels, as "a parable of bereavement" - would you describe these as moral tales?

Peter: I wouldn’t be as pretentious to suggest my novels are moral tales, but they certainly have a message. Perhaps the message is a personal one, that I’m writing letters to myself.

In Dark Covenant a struggling lawyer makes a pact with the Devil through the crossword in a lifestyle magazine built from his desires. For me, the magazine represents the contracts we all make in life. We all bargain our time, and sometimes our principles, for the things that we need. For the things that we think that we need. The story is essentially Faust with a modern twist.

The Mourning Vessels was inspired by the loss of my parents. I lost my mum on Christmas Day 2004, and my dad succumbed to grief on Christmas Day 2005. During the year he was alone he created shrines to her memory, from photographs and the little things that she treasured. I didn’t think it was healthy. The book is very much about dealing with bereavement, and I suppose if there’s a message it’s that you need to let go. Remember the ones you loved with a smile, not with pain and torment.

Precious Cargo was based on another sad time in my life: my experience with IVF. There’s a chapter in the book called ‘the imagined child’, because I believed I could see my unborn child’s face, that the child was so close. We tried four times then gave up, because carrying on would have damaged us, I think. Sometimes you need to accept the cards life deals you, and be happy. Anyway, that’s what I believe.

AmeriCymru: how did you imagine the fantastical devices and sinister 'toys' in Precious Cargo?

Peter: I honestly don’t know. These screwball ideas come naturally, if that’s the right phrase...

AmeriCymru: You have been referred to as the 'Welsh Dan Brown'. How do you feel about the comparison?

Peter: My novels have some codes and puzzles, but that’s really where the similarity ends. Mr Brown has a very readable style, but I confess that I find his historical subject matter more interesting than the plot and the characters. That could be because I now read modern fiction with an editorial, critical eye; for this reason I much prefer reading classics or history, when I can completely turn off.

AmeriCymru: We learn from your website that you are working on a fourth novel ('The Vanity Rooms') at the moment. Care to tell us anything about that?

Peter: This is the third novel with my main character Tristyn Honeyman, an ex-Baptist minister from North Wales and a sort of spiritual detective.

The demonic society he encountered in the The Mourning Vessels and Precious Cargo are now posing as an arts charity, giving struggling artists free accomodation. This is in a building in Cardiff Bay once occupied by a chapter that escaped from Revolutionary France, who were obsessed with the Roussean concept of ‘amour propre’, or self image.

The apartment comes with a mobile phone, which has some unusual functions and a strange address book. Both apartment and mobile are infested by the eighteenth century chapter, who are determined to find the true meaning of celebrity, that exclusively human need to be admired.

I know, it’s not the work of a well man...

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of ameriCymru?

Peter: Thank you so much. I’m trying to do something a little different, and I’m writing in a very unfashionable genre: the supernatural thriller without vampires. Your support means everything to me.

AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh crime fiction writer and roving guitarist Andrew Peters:-

" I was born in beautiful Barry on June 21st many years ago. That''s the longest day of the year ("Bloody felt like it too" Mrs GE Peters) so I have always yearned for the sun. After looking for it in vain in the UK, I toured the world as a guitarist and finally settled in Spain in 2004. "

Books by Andrew Peters

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AmeriCymru: Hi Andrew and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. Can you tell us a little about your Welsh background and how you came to be living in the wilds of central Spain?

Andrew: I was born in beautiful Barry on June 21st many years ago. That''s the longest day of the year ("Bloody felt like it too" Mrs GE Peters) so I have always yearned for the sun. After looking for it in vain in the UK, I toured the world as a guitarist and finally settled in Spain in 2004.

My parents left Wales when I was 10 and insisted I accompany them, but I have returned often, since my mother''s family are landed gentry in the millionaire''s playground of Aberdare, and Mother now lives in upmarket Saundersfoot.

AmeriCymru: At what point did you take up writing crime fiction? Would you describe your work as crime fiction?

Andrew: I never wrote anything at all until June 2012, when I wrote a story about murdering my ex (every boy''s dream) in response to some banter with Facebook friends. Inside two months, I had forty short stories written, all brilliant, and probably dictated by aliens.

Most of my stuff is crime related, and definitely fiction, though I am not one for the meticulously researched police procedural, and there will be no ritual serial killers sending cryptic clues to drunk policemen with unsupportive bosses and troubled marriages.

Most of my stuff has a Welsh connection and my puerile humour, but I did write two "straight" crime novels (JOE SOAP & SUBTRACTION) from which all Welshness and every joke was carefully removed. People still claimed to laugh at them.

AmeriCymru: Can you tell us a little about Otis King, Memphis'' Number One Welsh Blues detective?

Andrew: Well, The Blues Detective started out as just one short story in a collection, but has now expanded to twenty short stories, three Kindle novellas and two novels.

Otis K ing''s real name and origins are shrouded in mystery, though there is talk of bus-cond ucting in Aberdare, the Welsh Secret Service and a spell in the Glamorgan State Penitentiary. He moved to Memphis with his guitar to make it big, but only managed to make it small, so he supplements his income and funds his bourbon and blonde habits by investigating Blues-related cases. He''s rather a soft-boiled detective, since he scares very easily and guns make him nervous. Fortunately he can usually find some bigger blokes to do the rough stuff. He likes well-upholstered blondes, tidy guitars, Welsh bourbon,fast cars and despises modern jazz pianists.

AmeriCymru: Care to introduce your character Retired Chief Superintendent Williams (the semi-legendary "Williams Of The Yard") for our readers?

Andrew: Another strange character. He was a legend at Scotland Yard in the later years of the last century, but never talks about that. He only discusses his early cases as a young DI in Barry in the sixties. His recollections are a little clouded by the passage of years and gin. He hasn''t moved with the times too well, so can be a little lacking in the niceties of political correctness, and rather prefers the world of 1966 to 2013. Oddly for a detective, he gets on very well with his superiors and is very happily married.

Yes, I know...very far-fetched.

AmeriCymru: We learn from your bio that you share your place with two gorgeous local cats, more guitars than you can count and a fridge full of wine. Can you tell us a little about your guitar collection?

Andrew: Well.....one picture is worth 1000 words...

AmeriCymru: And,.... the all important question, are you a red or white wine drinker?

Andrew: Yes! But only to excess.

AmeriCymru: What are you reading at the moment? Any recommendations?

Andrew: I don''t read much at all these days, much prefer the guitars and getting outside in the real world. I recommend Robert B Parker, Damon Runyon, Dylan Thomas & PG Wodehouse...all of whom are too dead to sue me for blatant plagiarism.

AmeriCymru: What''s next for Andrew Peters? What are you working on at the moment?

Andrew: I think my oeuvre is complete now, ten books seems a nice round number, and nobody''s offering me millions to churn out any more. Not written a word since August and have no ideas.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

Andrew: Awfully nice of you to chat to me, everyone please buy all my books immediately and make me stinking rich, famous and more attractive to women. Failing that, never forget you''re Welsh and if you ever have any Blues-related cases that need solving, call Otis King 634-5789

" I am interested in the demonstration of human resilience in the face of failure and in the saving grace of humour "

AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh author Bel Roberts about her writing, travels and future plans. Works by Bel Roberts:-

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AmeriCymru: Hi Bel and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed. You started writing, or at least publishing, quite late on in life. Were you always a writer? Did you always have it in mind that you would one day publish your first novel?

Bel: Whilst I was an undergraduate at Aberystwyth University (1959-62), I wrote comedy sketches and acted in them during annual Rag Week Charity Events. Later, as a qualified teacher, I taught English up to GCSE ‘A’ Level standard to pupils in 7 secondary schools in England and Wales over 30 continuous years and also achieved the position of Deputy Head Teacher in 2. In some of these schools, I contributed articles for school magazines and wrote pantomimes and sketches for end-of-term concerts, but it was only when, following spinal surgery, I retired prematurely from teaching in 1993, that I had time to write fiction with the intention of getting it published. My first short story, A Touch of Gloss, won second prize in a national open short story competition judged by novelist, Beryl Bainbridge and was broadcast twice on BBC Radio 4 during Armistice Week in 1995. Between 1995 and 2004, I won 5 national open short story competitions and further short stories were included by Honno Women’s Press in 3 of their anthologies, Catwomen From Hell (2000), Written in Blood (2004) and All Shall Be Well (2012). I have had several poems published in various anthologies. In 2000 I was awarded an MA in Creative Writing by Bath Spa University.

AmeriCymru: Can you tell us a little about your first novel ''A Discerning Woman’s Guide To Manhunting''.

Bel: T.V. sit-com series scriptwriter of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrrin and prolific novelist, David Nobbs, was my tutor on a Creative Writing Course in Ty Newydd in Gwynedd. He appreciated my robust sense of humour and encouraged me to write A Discerning Woman’s Guide to Manhunting, which took me 30 years as a serial manhunter to research and 3 years to write! It traces the desperate attempts of Geri, a retired sixty-year-old ex-teacher, to find an intellectually stimulating and sexually active partner. She is DISCERNING, so she’s looking for Mr Right – Mr Will Do just won’t do! The book is about starting again, re-defining self in middle-age and facing real limitations and challenges with a spirit of optimism. Geri not only becomes a mature student, studying alongside teenage students, but also acts as part-carer for her octogenarian mother who has the first stages of dementia but who adamantly resists going ‘into care’. Geri is typical of many middle aged women today who multi-task and get little acknowledgment for their selflessness but Geri is unusually head-strong, non p.c. and outrageously funny. She is not a defeatist, a whinger, or a dignified dear old lady. This woman is dynamite.

AmeriCymru: You have travelled and taught in South Africa and elsewhere. Care to tell us a little about your experiences there?

Bel: My partner and I first visited South Africa as tourists on a fortnight’s sight-seeing holiday at Christmas 2001. On the second day of our visit, we decided that we would like to spend our long, wet British winters there, so we invested in a small coastal shack in the Eastern Cape. Between 2002-7, we spent 6 months of the year there as ‘swallows’ ie fliers migrating to the warmth of an African summer; Chris becoming a typical ex-pat (ie spending most of his time on the Bowls’ Club green, or in its bar!), while I assisted in teaching school leavers English at two township schools. I also did a little relief work at peak holiday periods at a local AIDS & TB children’s clinic, but I had no specific duties to perform there.

I have travelled extensively abroad: New Zealand, Australia, Goa, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Canada, Mexico, W. Indies and sailed down the Amazon as far as Manaus. On my retirement from teaching and as a mature student of the German Language, I visited most cities in Germany as well as other European destinations in Italy, France, Portugal and Greece. Having the time to travel is the main advantage of old age. Despite the current inconveniences at airports etc, I feel a compulsive need to travel whilst I am still mobile. I have a weak back (supported by 2 titanium posts and 8 titanium screws) but I don’t allow it to stop me doing anything. I love seeing new places and meeting different people. I attend a gym every other day and I am full of energy and enthusiasm for new ventures and experiences.

AmeriCymru: You won a number of prizes for your short stories prior to the publication of your first anthology ''Opportunity Mocks''. How did it feel winning The Bill Naughton Short Story Competition amongst others?

Bel: In 1999 I was a runner-up in the Bill Naughton Short Story Competition and in 2000 I was awarded first prize and had a second story entry in the same competition highly recommended. The winning stories were published in ‘Splinters Winners Collection’ (Waldron Dillon 1999 and 2000) respectively. It was an immense honour to win successive Irish literary awards, especially those in honour of Bill Naughton, playwright and author ( 1910-92).

AmeriCymru: Could you tell us a little about ''Opportunity Mocks''? What can readers expect to find between the covers?

Bel: ''Opportunity Mocks’ is an anthology of diversely themed short stories, some autobiographical; some fictitious. Three of the sixteen stories are written in the ‘voice’ of a frightened, bewildered child from the past, others include that of a depressed stalker, an eccentric spinster, a victim of a confident trick and a street-wise petty thief. The protagonists of the stories, whether motivated by good or bad, are humans driven by obsessive promptings which dictate their actions and mould their characters. They are all searching for something they desperately want: love, security, survival, superiority, revenge, identity and they all fall short of their target. I am interested in the demonstration of human resilience in the face of failure and in the saving grace of humour.

AmeriCymru: What can you tell us about ''Surfing Through Minefields''?

Bel: ‘Surfing Through Minefields’ belongs to the hybrid genre ‘reality fiction’. I have set the story in a fictional contemporary comprehensive school in Monmouth and have researched the facts surrounding the Senghenydd Pit disaster of 1913 in such a way that the history of the event is seen from the prospective of a modern teenager and by the residents of an old people’s home who have actual mementos of the tragic event. The heroine, Lauren, is an English teenager sent to stay with her grandmother in Wales while her parents sort out their various problems. The book shows the challenges she faces settling into a strange environment and her relationship with her new school mates who are not all friendly. In History, she chooses as her special topic the Senghenydd Pit Disaster of 1913. The dreadful living standards and inhuman conditions of the miners (some younger than her when they became victims of the tragic accident) make her question her own comfortable background and middle class values. The book contains humour and champions the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.

AmeriCymru: We learn from a recent newspaper article that you intend to donate to the Aber Valley National Mining Memorial Fund. Care to tell us a little about the fund and your personal reason for supporting it?

Bel: The Aber Valley Heritage Committee has set up a fund to finance a new Universal Colliery Memorial Garden which will be officially opened to mark the centenary of the October 1913 Universal Colliery disaster, the worst pit disaster in UK history. Sponsors have been buying ceramic tiles, made by local school children and bearing the names of the victims of the pit explosion. I have donated £80, the reading fees I’ve been offered by local groups, such as the Caerphilly Women’s Institute, in lieu of expenses. I have further book readings planned and I shall donate more profits to the fund from the proceeds of the book, if sales increase. My father was from north Wales and had no mining connections, but the men in my mother’s family were all coal miners. I have in my possession a death certificate issued to a cousin, who began working in the mines at 14 years of age and who died at 26 years, as recently as 1951. The causes of death are given as ‘Exhaustion and Pulmonary Tuberculosis’. I feel a sense of anger at such statistics. I was born in the Rhondda Valley, a place synonymous with coal mining; I have a great respect for all miners working underground anywhere, both present and past.

AmeriCymru: What''s next for Bel Roberts? When can we expect to see your next title in print?

Bel: I am currently working on a fictional novel influenced by my post-war childhood in the Rhondda. The MS needs to be double its present length and to give a more focused sense of ‘place’. If I were to cut down on my travelling, the book might be finished by early 2014. I am constantly torn between the two priorities in my life: writing and travelling. I am also re-editing half a dozen poems that have been lying dormant for a decade.

AmeriCymru: It is always of interest to know what our favorite authors are reading currently. Any recommendations?

Bel: I loved Hilary Mantel’s biographies of Thomas Cromwell: ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘Bring Up The Bodies’ and eagerly await publication of the last book of the trilogy. By contrast, I’ve recently finished reading and reviewing Duncan Whitehead’s debut novel ‘The Gordonston Ladies’ Dog Walking Club’, a black-comedy crime story, which I found hilarious. Duncan is an English ex-pat now living in Florida.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

Bel: I am pleased and honoured to be part of the cultural twinning of Wales and America through Americymru. I wish you full success with the Eisteddfod Poetry Competition and I look forward to reading more of the entries online. I will do my best to keep updating my membership page and to keep abreast of your news, so that I bolster my friendship with authors and readers across the mountains and The Pond that separates us. It warms my heart that there are readers so far from Wales who are interested in, and who appreciate, what I write. It makes the backache worthwhile. Diolch!

From our interview with Bel Roberts:- " Surfing Through Minefields belongs to the hybrid genre ‘reality fiction’. I have set the story in a fictional contemporary comprehensive school in Monmouth and have researched the facts surrounding the Senghenydd Pit disaster of 1913 in such a way that the history of the event is seen from the prospective of a modern teenager and by the residents of an old people’s home who have actual mementos of the tragic event. The heroine, Lauren, is an English teenager sent to stay with her grandmother in Wales while her parents sort out their various problems." ... read more here

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This is the story of a teenage girl coming to terms with her parents divorce. To complicate matters she is sent away to live in Monmouth, a small town on the Welsh border so she must also adapt to a new school and learn to make new friends a long way from her former home.

The book touches on many themes that you might expect in a teenage ''coming of age'' novel. Lauren''s early experiences with the opposite sex, school bullying and racism all form part of this well paced and lively story. In the course of a meeting with her Welsh grandmother at a convalescent home she learns that a distant relative ( her grandmothers half brother ) was a victim of the Senghenydd mining disaster on October 14th 1913. The following day at school she learns that she must pick a GCSE coursework assignment and decides that she will write on the Universal Colliery disaster and consult with her grandmother for personal recollections and details of this catastrophic event.

The rest of the book interweaves her historical research with her day to day efforts to cope with her life and circumstances in a rich and compelling narrative which will appeal to many adult readers as powerfully as it will to its intended teenage audience.

In the course of her researches Lauren unearths many interesting snippets of information from the newspapers of the time:-

"Today His Majesty King George V sent his condolences to the bereaved families of Senghenydd in The Rhymney Valley, South Wales and expressed his genuine shock at the scale of the disaster. He regretted that he could not visit the scene of the disaster immediately, as he was currently involved in the marriage celebrations of Prince Arthur of Connaught and the Duchess of Fife."

"Many of the bodies show horrific burns and other forms of mutilation but most of those awaiting identification are decomposing fast and should be laid to rest with dignity. One young boy hardly in his teens was identified by his new boots, worn for the first time on that fateful morning, another by a champagne cork, a treasured souvenir rescued from the pit owner’s garden and carried as a lucky omen."

It is clear throughout that Bel Roberts has thoroughly researched her historical subject matter and this is to be commended when you remember that the few books on the tragedy are either difficult or nearly impossible to obtain ( both W. H. Davies Ups And Downs and John H. Brown''s Valley Of The Shadow are referenced in the text )

In conclusion this is a book with the potential to delight readers of all ages. Whether you are interested in the problems confronting teenagers growing to maturity in modern society or with the details of Wales and Britains'' worst colliery disaster this book has something for you. An unreserved thumbs up and 5 star recommendation.

A pioneering new book aims to present a journey through Welsh history and ‘introduce the people of Wales’ to their own history through the Welsh Christian experience.

Our Holy Ground - The Welsh Christian Experience by John I Morgans and Peter C Noble tells of the Welsh Christian story and, through showing how it is rooted in localities, tells the story of Wales.

‘This is for the people who live in Wales to learn about their own story – a story which continues to be contemporary and relevant.’ John and Peter explained,

‘We want the people who live in Wales to know their own shared story.’ they added. This is the first book of its kind which attempts to tell the Welsh story from the widest possible perspective, whilst also being a readable retelling of old and recent revisions of Welsh history and integrating both the ‘secular and religious story’.

John Morgans wrote the book and Peter Noble was the photographer. Both were aware that when they were introducing ministers from other countries to come and serve in Wales, the ministers were oblivious to the different national context and there was no straightforward book which they could recommend.

The answer seemed to be ‘put that right yourself’.

‘Our joint experience confirms our awareness that this is a story which is no longer being shared.’ they explained, ‘The majority in the churches have no concept of the wholeness of the story. Welsh denominations, as they weaken, are focusing on their own separate history and stories.’

‘But this historic story belongs to all the people of Wales. Our hope is that this book will alert the church and the wider public that there is one great story which belongs to everyone.’ they said.

‘This book is the appropriate history of a movement.’ added t he Rt. Rev. Dom Daniel OCSO, Abbot of Caldey, ‘This publication is not just a history book among many others but a re-telling the story in a way our ancestors would have done from generation to generation.’

The volume includes over a hundred photographs taken by Peter Noble as he travelled throughout Wales over a period of several years.

‘The photographs are an integral element to the book, the unique collection of images illustrating the historic narrative and at the same time the awareness of a contemporary journey.’ said Peter.

Two of these images include Our Lady of Penrhys and The Guardian of the Valleys monuments respectively which feature on the front cover.

‘The images we chose for the cover were deliberate’ they explained, ‘They symbolise a journey of discovery into forgotten Welsh history.’

John I. Morgans was born in Tylorstown, Rhondda and studied history, theology and church history at Swansea, Oxford and Hartford, Connecticut before ordination in 1967. His first pastorate included the United Reformed Church in Llanidloes and the Welsh Independent Church in Glanhafren. His ministry continued with the URC in Manselton, as Moderator for the Wales Synod, and at Llanfair, Penrhys where, with his wife Norah, he helped form the ecumenical church. He retired from pastoral ministry in 2004. Our Holy Ground is his sixth book.

Peter C. Noble was raised in Brynmawr, Gwent. Following service in the RAF he studied for ministry in the United Reformed Church at Manchester. Ordained in 1983 his ministries have been Brecon, Libanus and Cwmcamlais (UWI), Caerffili and Ystrad Mynach, Chaplain to Higher Education in Cardiff, Synod Training Officer, and Moderator for the National Synod of Wales. He is presently Ecumenical Chaplain in Cardiff Bay.

Our Holy Ground – The Welsh Christian Experience by John I Morgans and Peter C Noble (£9.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

Chris Keil is a novelist and part-time university lecturer. He has worked as a sheep-farmer, a journalist and a tour-guide in a number of European cities. In academic life he has published and lectured widely on traumatic memory and representations of the Holocaust, and currently teaches at the University of Wales. He has held literary residencies, workshops and master-classes in Europe and the United States. He is the author of The French Thing (Carreg Gwalch, 2002), Liminal (Alcemi, 2007) and Flirting at the Funeral (Cillian Press, 2012). Flirting is a story about love, money and lost opportunities, set against a background of global crisis, terrorism and the power of the super-rich. In 2013 Chris has appeared at literary festivals in Galway, at Hay Literature Festival, and in October will be at Wordstock for an author-appearance and a writing master-class.

On October 4th, he will participate in the panel discussion " Culture Wars. Other Voices in British Literature: Should 'Welsh Writing in English' be taught as a separate course or module in U.S. Universities? " at the Portland Center for Public Humanities at Portland State University.