The inspiration for this novel was drawn from the life of my great, great grandfather, a radical solicitor called Hugh Williams who was said to be the mastermind of the Rebecca Riots. While researching his involvement in the uprising, it occurred to me that the colourful events I was uncovering would make a fascinating foundation for a story.
What emerged is a poignant tale of love and betrayal, set against the background of Wales in the mid-19th century - a country aflame with political and social unrest. For centuries, generations of the Jenkins family have eked a living from their hill farm in West Glamorgan. But when a fire destroys most of their possessions, putting their future into the hands of an unscrupulous mortgage holder, Morgan Jenkins hangs himself, leaving his children to fend for themselves. All that remains after the debts are paid off is a small-holding - barely enough land to provide for Mary and William’s basic needs. To bring in money, Mary takes a job - first as companion to the querulous elderly wife of Hugh Williams, a local solicitor with radical political ambitions and questionable morals, then as a clerk in his office. William is seduced into joining Rebecca’s Children, a fledgling nationalist movement, which aims to strike at wealthy English landowners whose unjust tolls have brought about the bankruptcy of so many Welsh hill farmers. As tensions mount, Mary finds herself torn between her loathing of the violence that accompanies Rebecca and her growing love for Jac Ty Isha, an ardent nationalist. And the danger to the men she loves increases when the British Government decides to put a stop to this dangerous rebellion…

“An accomplished first novel” The Times
“A well-handled tale of passion, social injustice and nationalist fervour in nineteenth-century Wales” Liverpool Daily Post.