Gaynor,

Great. Diolch yn fawr. I'll look into it.

Matthew

Hallo Matthew

Yes, that is the name. I was a bit taken aback by the price, considering it's paperback, but I bought it anyway! I got it from Amazon.

All the best

Gaynor

I would like to look into that book. I'm assuming that 'The Orphans of Carmarthen' is the name of it?

I came across this book while I was looking for something else on the internet (this sort of thing happens a lot to me!) and, despite the cost of the novel, I sent for it. Baker seems to be one of those people who has so many accomplishments (both academic and otherwise)that it doesn't seem possible to have achieved them all in one lifetime! The story is a very interesting and absorbing take on the life of one Myrddin Emrys (aka Merlin) and ends with him still as a young boy, wise beyond his years. There are sequels so I shall certainly look for them.

The novel rightly takes place in the Towy Valley and Carmarthen. As I've said, Baker is academically accomplished so I am not the one to argue with him about what Carmarthen might have looked like in the 5th century but I would imagine that the Roman influence might still be there at that stage and there would be Romano-British people still living there to some extent. I didn't get that impression from this tale. Emrys and his canine companion, Woof, are the orphans of the title. In the meantime, Vortigern is ruling Britain and is the most unpleasant character one can imagine.

I certainly enjoyed reading the book and would be interested in seeing what happens to Emrys in the next one, given that he is still a young child at the end of the first novel.

updated by @gaynor-madoc-leonard: 11/11/15 10:37:54PM