What I Know I Cannot Say / All That Lies Beneath - Couverture souple

Smith, Dai

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 191090192X ISBN 13 : 9781910901922

Editeur : Parthian Books, 2016

Synopsis

What I Know I Cannot Say \/ All That Lies Beneath<\/i> combines a novella and a linked section of short stories to create a dazzling fictional synthesis that takes the reader on a tour of the South Wales Valleys during the twentieth century.<\/p>

Picking up where his 2013 novel Dream On<\/i> left off, What I Know I Cannot Say<\/i> follows the life story of Billy\x27s father, Dai Maddox. When Billy\x27s former partner Bran shows up wanting to record Dai\x27s life story to put together a documentary, Dai looks back on his past, remembering his childhood as a destitute orphan, his work as a collier in the mines and the subsequent drifting between menial jobs, alleviated only by reading and drawing; his enrolment in the British Army and participation in the invasion of Italy during the Second World War; and post\-war life under socialism, when he was back in the pits and married to Billy\x27s mother, Mona. Moving from the heyday of the pre\-mechanised coal industry to the present day, What I Know I Cannot Say<\/i> presents a moving and vivid panorama of twentieth\-century Wales, brought to life by Smith\x27s meticulous attention to historical detail and a distinct gift of invoking the smells, sights, and sounds of the past. We find ourselves smelling the cordite of ammunition among the ruins of Cassino in 1943, during the invasion of Italy; the damp coal in the mineshafts; the beer\-soaked wood of pub floors; the smell of fresh coffee from a modern percolator. Dai\x27s journey is emotional and moving, told in gritty, realistic prose.<\/p>

All That Lies Beneath<\/i> is a white\-knuckle fiction ride: power, sex, money, and ambition all twist through the pages as Smith creates a feast of intellectual and physical provocation in stories that send a shudder of fearful recognition directly through to the reader.<\/p>

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Dai Smith is a renowned historian, academic, broadcaster and prolific writer on the arts and cultural issues. He taught History at the universities of Lancaster, Swansea, and Cardiff and was awarded a Personal Chair by the University of Wales in 1986. In 1993, Dai joined the BBC as Editor of Radio Wales, and from 1994 to 2000 he was Head of Broadcast at BBC Wales. He is currently Head of the Arts Council of Wales and Raymond Williams Research Chair in the Cultural History of Wales at Swansea University. He has published much non-fiction about the history, culture, and literature of his native South Wales, and one other novel, <i>Dream On</i> (Parthian, 2013), which is a prequel to <i>What I Know I Cannot Say</i>. He is also the editor of the Library of Wales series. Dai currently lives on Barry Island, where he is writing more fiction.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Parthian Books
• Date d'édition: 2016
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 191090192X
• ISBN 13: 9781910901922
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 204
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible