Selected Stories - Softcover

Richards, Alun

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1854111175 ISBN 13: 9781854111173

Publisher: Dufour Editions, 1996

Synopsis

Elgar Davies, Hon. Sec. of Pontlast RFC; scandalised Elmyra Mouth; lawyer Bunny Leyshon; Jehoidah Wetter, public convenience attendant; dream girl Dottie Lemon; Esme and her famous fly-half husband. The characters from Alun Richards's classic short stories are joined by new figures soon to be held in equal affection: T.J., leading figure in the new television company; milkman Jimmy Reeve; Ben Brayley, returning celebrity; Huw Pugh-Jones, who gets the boating bug.
From the valleys chip shop to Broadcasting House, and from the rugby club to the yacht club, Alun Richards creates a world marked by his acute observation and exact ear for dialogue. Surefooted in the politics of relationships, adept at his reading of social strata, sympathetic to the weaknesses of his characters, Richards is writing at his best in these memorable stories.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

"It was a day when there was hardly a ripple on the water, such a wind as there was, a nodding breeze from the South-East, and out beyond the headland, a long line of orange lobster buoys glistened in the early morning sunlight. It was also a day for fine thoughts." In "The Widow-Maker," Dr. Huw Pugh-Jones thinks he'd like to be a part of this beautiful maritime scene and so tries his hand at the tiller of a new half-partnership only to find just how little he knows about the sea. "Hon. Sec. R.F.C." is trying to bluff his way along as Secretary of the Pontlast Rugby Football Club and manages to keep it up by turning phrases as fast as he can. In "Cherry Trees," Moira tries to delve beneath the beautiful surface of a tony local newsman and once again finds disappointment. And poor Esme tries to deal with more rugby, more drinking and more general manliness as her husband carouses in "Fly Half." Characters reappear throughout Richards's stories as he weaves his Welsh spell of colloquial dialogue and quirky characters. Richards's descriptions are quite brilliant and the reader can easily imagine being in Wales. The people, the sky, the mountains, the sea and the valley towns with their lines of row houses all become real. Although each story involves Welsh people and settings, the circumstances, the social positions of the characters and the plots are varied so that redundancies are skillfully avoided. Many passages throughout this collection are delightfully humorous, though some of the humor might be missed by American readers unfamiliar with peculiarities of Welsh terms.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dufour Editions
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1854111175
• ISBN 13: 9781854111173
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 342