Revisiting the greatest Welsh novel of the 1970s

Adam Pearce, Llyfrau Melin Bapur

Originally published in 1974, T. Glynne Davies (1926–1988), Marged – described as a ‘major work in the Welsh canon’ – was (and remains) one of the longest novels ever to be published in Welsh, its length matched only by 19th century novelists like Daniel Owen and a handful of other works.

Set primarily in Llanrwst, Conwy, during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the novel follows the eponymous Marged, a working-class woman, and her family from her youthful romance with her husband Ifan in the 1872 right through until the First World War and its aftermath, chronicling the transformational changes seen over the period and their impacts on ordinary people.

The portrait is both affectionate and realistic: unlike earlier romantic treatments of Welsh life the novel doesn’t shy away from the grimy realities of poverty and war, but neither does it adopt the cynical approach of Caradoc Evans or Caradog Prichard.

Ambitious and moving, ever since I first read it as a student, I have been of the view that Marged should be considered a classic; its author’s magnum opus, it is undoubtedly the greatest novel in Welsh of the 1970s and one of the greatest of all time.

It tells the story of a family but also of a community, the town itself being the constant around which the other characters orbit. The term ‘epic’ is over-used these days, but in this case well deserved.

Marged is exactly the kind of novel that is probably less well known than it should be, not because of its inherent qualities, but simply because the fact that the incentives of the Welsh-language publishing industry mean publishers tend to favour new works over reprints, and so getting hold of a copy can be quite hard.

It is therefore with great pleasure that I can announce that Melin Bapur are bringing out a new edition in time to mark the centenary of its author’s birth.

This new edition of the novel has been edited by Peredur Glyn, T. Glynne Davies’s grandson.

Himself a novelist and recipient of the 2025 Daniel Owen Memorial prize for Anfarwol, Glyn was able to take advantage of access to his grandfather’s notes to make a number of editorial changes in keeping with the author’s vision for a second edition (which was unrealised at the time of his death in 1988).

In Peredur Glyn’s new edition, with a foreword by Bethan Mair, Marged feels fresh as ever and even more brilliant than before.

T. Glynne Davies’s Marged is available now from www.melinbapur.cymru and priced at £14.99+P&P.

Also new from Melin Bapur this week are two new English books: Jerry Hunter’s debut English novel An Atheist Christian Gunslinger, and Scribbletown, Mary Burdett-Jones’s translation of her own Welsh novel Llanllenorion which was published earlier this year, priced at £7.99 and £9.99 respectively. All are also available as eBooks from a range of common distributors.