"Talking to my academic friend Claire Connolly the other evening we found ourselves discussing Lewis Jones' novels and she introduced me to the term 'sensational realism' and I thought how perfect, how extraordinarily apt.

 

"Cwmardy is nothing if not sensational: it's like one of those Brazilian tele-novelas where one action-packed, or emotionally-soaked incident follows on from another at a breathless lick."

 

Author, Broadcaster and Raconteur Jon Gower has undertaken the challenge to read all 33 titles in the current Library of Wales series, and review them. You can read his full review of both Cwmardy and follow-up We Live by Lewis Jones on Wales Arts Review now.

 

Catch up: Read his review of The Dark Philosophers by Gwyn Thomas.