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The narrator of this novel is young Hugh
Davies who becomes a miner in the Rhondda, he makes up his mind to savour life
to the full. Hugh has hardly any respect for established tradition. He takes
what he wants because he wants it, but has a heart, of sorts. His first
love is Tegwyn, a hospital nurse; then he turns to Anne in delicious revenge
after her brother beats him up; and meets his match finally in Jasmine, singer
and actress, and wife of the secretary of the local football team. He battles
his way through the daily treadmill to a climax that is as surprising as it is
satisfying.
The Welsh mining villages are changing so drastically in character that in ten
years' time what remains of the past in terms of human character will sputter
out as garbled memory. The author, who has a genius for capturing the chaotic
lives of his characters, has drawn the Davies family with a creator's delight.
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