Black Sunlight — Tom Davies

Beneath the dramatic valleys of South Wales, the miners labour to wrest the black sunlight - coal from the unforgiving earth. But the world is changing, the mines are closing; villages, one by one, are dying. It is against this tragic background that Tom Davies weaves the story of one village â€" Bont â€" and the people who live in it.

It is the story, especially, of Glynmor and Maggie. For Glynmor life is simple: beer and sex are the bedrock of his life. But for Maggie, Glynmor is the bedrock: she will do anything to have him. Their stormy love, by turn bitter, farcical and passionate brings into the world their son, Huw.

Black Sunlight is a powerful love story and an unforgettable portrait of a community in triumph and despair, riotous laughter and unbearable grief. Not since How Green Was My Valley has a writer brought South Wales and its people so brilliantly and movingly to life.

‘Black Sunlight constantly surprises, constantly rewards.'
Daily Telegraph

‘Tough but tender, sometimes coarse but always compassionate... heart stirring and unforgettable.'
She

‘Not for the church bookstalls, this book contains bad language of every kind together with many joyously uninhibited sexual encounters. But Wales has produced, in Tom Davies, a wonderfully passionate writer whose novels are gripping and red-blooded.'
Radio Four