your comments
Alan Gill, South Africa
Have read all Cordell's Welsh books, brilliant. They put me back into my hometown (Pontypool Gwent) whenever I look at them.
Mon Nov 10 09:10:27 2008
J Pearce
Fran Lawson, you so obviously know very little about Welsh history.
Wed Nov 5 08:35:14 2008
Mark Taha from London
Read his "If You Believe the Soldiers" - even cast a '70s film version. Found it exciting but far-fetched, especially the ending.
Wed Sep 24 08:08:16 2008
Ann Stuart, Abergavenny
Amazing, sets the mind thinking of the injustices served on the working class by those who owned the "works". Especially for me, as my great grandparents and their families, worked in either the iron works or coal mines and lived in Vaynor and the Cefn Coed area in utter poverty.
Mon Sep 15 08:30:17 2008
Gavin from Blackwood, Gwent
If you are Welsh these brilliant books tell the story of the struggle and sacrifice of your ancestors for the democratic rights that are sometimes taken for granted today. The most relevant Alexander Cordell titles are still available from Blorenge-books.co.uk.
Mon Sep 8 09:49:28 2008
Mrs Fran Lawson
Our local library throws out old book for about 20p each. I got 'Rape of the Fair Country'. It is historically incorrect and a load of old rubbish, but before I burnt it as kindling, as it is well bound and a second edition, I was curious. Who, I thought, would wade through such self indulgent rubbish? The author clearly knows no history, his characters are cardboard, and his ear for dialogue is non existent.
Tue Aug 26 08:00:32 2008
Gid Fellini
As an Englishman living in Wales I was instructed by my then (proud) Welsh girlfriend to read "Rape of the Fair Country". As I write this I am still reading it. It is wonderfully evocative. Cordell wrote beautifully and with such understanding. The book is an education.
Tue Aug 19 08:22:14 2008
Rowan Hill, Llanidloes, Powys
I read Rape of the Fair Country 45 years ago, back in Canada. An unforgettable work, that felt real and roused rage and a partisan sorrow for the conditions most people suffered from. I am reading it again now, and it feels no different.
Fri Jul 25 12:50:24 2008
Haydn (Vic) Rate Australia
I had the pleasure of meeting Alexander and Donnie in 1986 I think, when they were making one of their regular visits to 'The Cordell Country Club'. The Club was so named in his honour by Margaret and Graham ...? who owned this popular watering hole on the road to Blaenavon. Some unforgettable and long nights were had in the bar, discussing his work and the local history. Even more interesting for me as a visitor whose mother was born and raised in the area (Ebbw Vale and the Cwm) - Uncle Haydn Brake ran the Bailey's Arms and then the Cendle Inn. Thank you Alexander Cordell for your brilliant writing and company.
Tue Jul 1 08:19:58 2008
Anne Gullo, Somerset
I remenber reading this book when I was at college in the early seventies. I have the worst memory imagineable for names and titles, yet this was a book whose title and author I never did forget. I can remember not so much reading the book, "Song of the Earth", as experiencing it. If you've read it, I'm sure you'll understand that feeling of all the five senses being involved in the experience. Mind-blowing! I suggested this book as our book club read recently. I want others to have this feeling, to revel in his wit, gentleness, in the poetry of his writing. He was a true weaver of words.
Thu Feb 28 08:51:06 2008
Vic Williams, Chester.
I read the trilogy as a young man and have read many others throughout the ensuing years. I am from Wrexham originally and it came as a pleasant surprise to discover that Cordell had settled in my home town for the latter part of his life. His work has always been an inspiration to me.
Wed Dec 19 08:52:23 2007
Marsha Charlton, Canada
He was a fantactic writer! I read Rape of the Fair Country when I was in my teens and loved it. Then a few years ago I found a copy in a used book store and purchased it with delight. I have read it twice since then. It is the only book that you can open at any page and get pulled right into the story. I would love to find the rest of the trilogy.
Mon Dec 10 07:57:01 2007
Colette Philcock, Runcorn
I met Alexander Cordell in a hotel in Nant-y-Glo, South Wales, in 1991 or it could have been 92, all the locals seemed to know him, so I don't know if he lived there at that time. I purchased his book, Song of the Earth, from behind the bar where all his books were on sale, and he very kindly signed it for me.
Mon Nov 26 09:13:02 2007
Zoe
He sounds like a good writer. We are studying one of his books in history "Rape of my fair country".
Fri Nov 9 08:39:20 2007
John Bolton, West Yorks
It must 30 years since I read the classic trilogy. I have made the odd futile enquiry in an effort to get hold of them in recent years. Are they available for loan or purchase? So glad I at last thought to try internet - fingers now crossed!
Thu Oct 11 09:00:36 2007
Anne Frick, Luton
I was introduced to Rape of the Fair Country by my Welsh mother, have the trilogy and various other books in paperback, rather tattered now. They are still as wonderful as when I first read them. My parents finally settled in Abergavenny and I visited the site of Garndyrus with my dad not long before he died.
Mon Oct 1 15:32:07 2007
Reg David, Northamptonshire
I was introduced to his famous trilogy by an old schoolfriend now unfortunately deceased and the thrill of reading about places I knew in childhood stays with me. His books are much dog-eared but revered. His writing at one time provokes anger, at another tears. The love of his adopted homeland and his empathy with its people are implicit in his writing.
Tue Aug 28 11:06:23 2007
John Snailham
His Welsh trilogy is as magical and compelling to me now as it was when I first read it many years ago.
Thu Aug 23 10:51:28 2007
Bruce Kiernan, Australia
The best books I ever read.
Tue Aug 14 09:50:29 2007
Georgi Radstock
I read 'The Fire People' when I was 12 and have never found a book to come close to it. If you haven't read it you simply must!
Mon Apr 23 08:16:28 2007
Meriel Williams nee Roberts
Alexander Cordell spent a week in Senghenydd, scene of Wales worst Mining Disaster in 1913, recording my Grandfather's recollections as a rescuer. He used him as one of the central characters in his book "This Sweet And Bitter Earth". His name was Tom Roberts and although Cordell killed him off in the book (in the explosion), he actually lived on to the ripe old age of 97 years!
Wed Feb 21 11:50:56 2007
John Peek, Doncaster
Every book I have read of Alexander has reminded me of my Welsh heritage. I have lived in Yorkshire for 40 years but Wales is still home.
Thu Feb 8 07:56:05 2007
Bronwyn Gawthorne Sydney, Australia
Visited Wales for the first time over Christmas and toured with Mike Davis from Dragon Tours who turned me on to Cordell's Rape of the Fair Country. Possessing a Welsh ancestry, I devoured this novel and am thirsting for more and will seek the rest of the trilogy. Feel somehow connected even though I was born in Australia. The same sense of outrage and desire for social justice was stirred in me that I once thought was long lost....The issues raised have relevance for much of Australia's industrial relations and the search for the relevance of faith in a predominantly secular society still stimuates my thinking. Look forward to reading more from this excellent author.
Thu Jan 25 11:26:36 2007
Leann Phillips, Crickhowell, South Wales
I have recently studied Rape of the Fair Country in university, and found it a brilliant reflection of Welsh heritage. As I myself am from the area in which the book was written about, I could relate to all the places that were mentioned in the play. This, for me, made me even more proud to be Welsh, knowing that someone that wasn't even from Wales loved the country as much if not more than me. I used to take where I live for granted, but definitely won't do any more.
Mon Nov 27 09:19:16 2006
Sarah Reid, London
I first read 'Hosts of Rebecca' as a child and absolutely loved it. Twenty-odd years later I have stumbled across the Welsh trilogy and am reading avidly. It's every bit as good as I remembered and made more poignant from having 'met' Iestyn as well as Jethro. I have just moved to Dubai with my husband and these books have made me long to see Wales as much as England again. Next step is to read up on the Chartist movement, thank you Alexander Cordell for a wonderful series of novels.
Mon Nov 27 09:17:41 2006
Rob, Wrexham.
His trilogy makes marvellous reading. Only time will tell how good these three books are. You would be advised to read them in order:- 1. 'Rape of the Fair Country'. 2. 'Hosts of Rebecca'. 3. 'Song of the Earth.'
Cordell once told me, he was so involved when he was writing 'Rape of the Fair Country' he could virtually see the silver buckle on Morfydd's shoe, and hear the swish of her dress behind him.
Tue Aug 1 16:22:47 2006
Geraint Lewis from the Dulai
Cordell should be required reading in all Welsh comprehensives. His 'Rape of the Fair Country' trilogy tells us how we all came to be here as a nation. A land of passionate & compassionate socialists.
Tue Jul 4 09:13:45 2006
Royden Jones from The Rhondda
It was Cordell that ignited my interest in my country, and an insatiable appetite for history. Thank You George.
Thu Jun 22 07:54:29 2006
Annette Foley Craigen Lincsc
First read Land of my Father at drama school in Cardiff years ago. Am delving again into his work. I love it just as much probably more. Visited Crickhowel, Abergavenny, Rhumney, Tredegar area recently made book even more compelling.
Fri May 26 13:35:48 2006
Karen Diaper
What a good author he was, nice to have a Welsh writer who wrote many interesting books.
Wed Feb 23 10:54:12 2005
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Writer of famous Welsh works including 'Rape of the Fair Country'.
