Emyr Humphreys: Outside the House of Baal

The latest addition to my website is Emyr Humphreys‘ Outside the House of Baal. This is what Humphreys calls a long novel,not only in number of words but also because it covers a long(-ish) time span, namely from the early twentieth century to the 1960s. It tells the story of two families who see many changes in Wales, cultural, economic and political. In particular, we see many of these changes through the eyes of J T. Miles, a left-wing pastor, who is a pacifist and very much concerned with the economic circumstances of his flock and endeavours to work hard to improve them, often at the expense of and to the disgust of his family. He is, of course, fighting a losing battle, as the Great Depression and later the closure of the mines leads to mass poverty and mass emigration. Indeed, the man whom he partially blames for this trend is a Welsh-speaking Welshman, Lloyd George. It is an excellent novel of Wales and deserves to be better-known. It is now back in print with the wonderful Seren Books.