Country Dance

By Margiad Evans

This first-person account of passion, murder, and cultural conflict plays out in the person of the young Ann Goodman, who is torn by the struggle for supremacy in her mixed blood, Welsh and English. In this love story, set in the late 19th century, the rural way of life is no idyll but rather a savage and exacting struggle for survival.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Parthian Books
• Release date: Jan 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9781908946379

Margiad Evans

Novelist, essayist, poet and writer of short stories, with a lifelong identification with the Welsh border country, Margiad Evans – the pseudonym of Peggy Eileen Whistler (1909-1958) – was one of the most remarkable women writers of the mid-twentieth century. She published four novels and was known for her brilliant descriptions of the natural world.

Reviews for Country Dance

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I will probably have more to say about this when I've gone to the lectures about it, and better understood the context (and what the course is aiming for, etc). It's easy to read, though the syntax is very Welsh-sounding so that it might read oddly to people now. It's written in the present tense, as a diary, which is also a little odd until you get used to it. There are some untranslated bits of Welsh, but their meaning is plain enough in context. It's a relatively simple story, but you can feel the heavy tension from the first few pages -- the jealousy of Gabriel, the push and pull between Welsh and English.