Landscape and men in strife both feature heavily in this Top 5 books selection, chosen by award-winning author and screenwriter Cynan Jones.
Tree of Crows by Lewis Davies
A sparse, poetic myth which harks back to frontier times, medieval marketplaces and prehistoric rage. It’s laden with characters haunted by more than their eyes can see in a near-future towered over by the bleak south Wales mountains.
Nothing Left to Fear from Hell by Alan Warner
An imagined account of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s exile after losing the Battle of Culloden. Landscape is both friend and foe, proffering shelter and protection while bent on compounding their humiliation. Elements and insects are in on the joke.
Sarn Helen by Tom Bullough, illustrated by Jackie Morris
A pilgrimage along the Roman route linking the south to the north of Wales, laden with response to the threat of climate crisis. Bullough brings political, cultural and mythical histories into view.
Killochries by Jim Carruth
A verse novella in which the landscape is healer for a burnt-out young man sent from the city that left him hollow, to the remote sheep farm of a relative who has never left the hills. As the seasons unfold, communion with the land brings sanctuary.
Of Talons and Teeth by Niall Griffiths
A bludgeoning depiction of the depravations and despoilings of the past, set in pre-industrial Wales against a backdrop of oppressive religious conformity, poisonous capitalism and the rape of natural resources.
