By the Banks of the Rheidol

Historical fiction for adults, set in the Aberystwyth area and based around the building of the two local narrowgauge railways. ~Publisher: Y Lolfa

Set in and around Aberystwyth in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, By the Banks of the Rheidol is a heart-warming – and sometimes heart-rending – story of young love and youthful ambition in the age of steam.



We first meet the young hero, sixteen-year-old Dafydd Thomas, as he flees to Aberystwyth, believing that he has killed a fellow worker at Frongoch lead and zinc mine. He has acted purely in self-defence and is by no means sure the man is dead, but the justice of the day was harsh, and he fears not only the law but also the impact on his beloved parents, his grandmother and his two sisters, Sioned and Angharad. His only course of action is to make himself scarce.



By a strange quirk of fate, the first person he meets on the outskirts of the town is Gwen, a young woman who has already caught his eye and who quickly captures his heart. She promises to keep him safe and finds him work with her father, Joshua, who has a ropemaking business by the harbour. Young Joe, who also works for Joshua, finds Dafydd a room at his own lodgings with the kindly Mrs Owen in Trefechan and, for a time, it looks as though the lad has landed on his feet: he has a roof over his head, a steady – if menial – job, and a gently blossoming romance with the lovely Gwen. But young love rarely runs smooth, and life is full of vicissitudes. When the ropewalk is set on fire, Dafydd saves both Joshua and the business, but Joshua, believing the arsonist to be none other than the man Dafydd fought with at Frongoch, sends the young man away for his own safety, to work on the new Plynlimon and Hafan tramway being built in Talybont. ‘“Talybont?” Dafydd whispered. It felt like exile.’ In 1897, it would have felt a million miles away, but Gwen has said she will wait for him.



And so begins the young man’s life working on the railways and moving slowly up the ladder: from the doomed tramway, to the Devil’s Bridge line, to an apprenticeship at Bagnall’s in Stafford, and finally back home to… Sorry, no spoilers here!



Gently paced and rich in local detail, By the Banks of the Rheidol draws on the author’s extensive knowledge and experience of the Aberystwyth area and the railways and mining industries that form the novel’s backdrop and settings. It is a quiet pleasure to read, full of appealing characters and providing an enjoyable fund of information on local history. ~Suzy Ceulan Hughes @ www.gwales.com