The Shadow of Nanteos  by Jane Blank, published by Y Lolfa, was Waterstones’ Book of the Month in Wales in November.  Jane will be touring North America in late 2016: currently planning Toronto, New York and Washington. So please let me know if you’d be interested in her coming to speak at your society or college about the book, the history and Ceredigion.  The novel is in English, but Jane is a fluent Welsh speaker from a Ceredigion family.

New Welsh Historical Novel:   The Shadow of Nanteos  by Jane Blank

When William Powell and his headstrong wife Elizabeth inherit the glorious Nanteos estate in Cardiganshire, it seems their new life is everything they could wish for. Yet, as her debt-ridden husband is snared by the land disputes and violence of the 1750s lead wars, Elizabeth is increasingly drawn to the mysterious figure of Cai, the estate's handsome bailiff. Superstition, tales of haunting, and the powerful Nanteos grail cast their shadow over the house and soon the family is caught up in a vicious political and legal battle that will end in tragedy.  ISBN: 9781784611712

http://www.ylolfa.com/en/dangos.php?ISBN=9781784611712

https://www.facebook.com/Nanteos1750/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadow-Nanteos-The-Jane-Blank/dp/1784611719

"A Wonderfully gothic evocation of Wild Wales"  - Robert Peston, BBC.

  "Dark, dramatic and visceral  - Jane Blank has done for West Wales what has been done before for South Wales – she tells the story of how the land and the people were exploited for profit. We've had 'How Green was my Valley' for South Wales, but I've never read anything about the lead mines in Mid-Wales at this period." - Deborah Kay Davies, author of Wales Book of the Year 2009.

  The Shadow of Nanteos  “is no soft-focus costume drama. There is a strong sense of social division between local Welsh workers and the anglicised middle-class and upper-class landowners and mine-owners. The central character, Elizabeth, although at first revelling in her new fortune and status, soon breaks the social rules both in relation to her servants and in what is expected of a gentlewoman.  The locations are vividly evoked, and the landscape has a part in the drama as it does in Hardy's novels" - Caroline Clark, Gwales.com

Nanteos Mansion, near Aberystwyth, is now a luxurious Country House Hotel