''Rape of the Fair Country'' is a novel by

Alexander Cordell Alexander Cordell (9 September 1914 – 9 July 1997) was the pen name of George Alexander Graber. He was a prolific Welsh novelist and author of 30 acclaimed works which include, '' Rape of the Fair Country'', '' Hosts of Rebecca'' and '' So ...

, first published in 1959. It is the first in Cordell's "Mortymer Trilogy", followed by '' The Hosts Of Rebecca'' (1960) and '' Song of the Earth'' (1969). The book has been translated into seventeen languages. In addition to the book having been adapted for numerous plays over the years and more recently. There also exist audio versions of the book in circulation read by Philip Madoc and there have been successive attempts to get the book made into a film.{{cite news, last=Barber, first=Chris, title=Cordell's Dream, url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/cordells-dream-1919268, work=

Wales Online Media Wales Ltd. is a publishing company based in Cardiff, Wales. As of 2009 it was owned by Reach plc (formerly known as the Trinity Mirror Group). It was previously known as the Western Mail & Echo Ltd. History The ''Western Mail'' was fo ...

, date=22 May 2010 , accessdate=26 May 2013 Cordell's style and subject matter are reminiscent of

Richard Llewellyn Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd (; 8 December 1906 – 30 November 1983), known by his pen name Richard Llewellyn ( , ), was an English-born novelist of Welsh descent, who is best remembered for his 1939 novel '' How Green Was My Va ...

's ''

How Green Was My Valley ''How Green Was My Valley'' is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, narrated by Huw Morgan, the main character, about his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed that he based the book on his own persona ...

''.

Plot summary

The plot concerns the Welsh

iron-making Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...

communities of

Blaenavon Blaenavon ( cy, Blaenafon) is a town and community in Torfaen county borough, Wales, high on a hillside on the source of the Afon Lwyd. It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent. Th ...

and

Nantyglo Nantyglo () is a village in the ancient parish of Aberystruth and county of Monmouth situated deep within the South Wales Valleys between Blaina and Brynmawr in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent. Governance An electoral ward in the same n ...

in the 19th century. The action is seen through the eyes of young Iestyn Mortymer who grows up in times of growing tensions between

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

s and

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

ists. In 1826, when the book starts, Iestyn is eight years old and already beginning work at the Garndyrus furnaces near Blaenavon. His sister Morfydd has strong feelings about women and children working in mines and ironworks. She sympathises with the Chartist movement and condemns the action of the militant

Scotch Cattle Scotch Cattle was the name taken by bands of coal miners in 19th century South Wales, analogous to the Molly Maguires The Molly Maguires were an Irish people, Irish 19th-century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and parts of the Ea ...

groups. In this she is in opposition to Hywel Mortymer, their conservative father who later begins to question his own loyalty to the ironmaster.

Story

Cordell's first successful novel draws the hardship of life in early industrial Wales with the father starting off as positive towards the English coal and iron masters of the time but then on seeing his family and neighbours suffer (and sometimes die) he revolts with his son, Iestyn to protest. The family life leads to the fight for trade unions and Chartism. The historical background against which the novel is set is described in considerable detail with profoundly researched factual events like the 1839

Newport Rising The Newport Rising was the last large-scale armed rising in Wales, by Chartists whose demands included democracy and the right to vote with a secret ballot. On Monday 4 November 1839, approximately 4,000 Chartism, Chartist sympathisers, under ...

show this book to be worthy of the bestseller status it achieved in the UK as well as the USA. Cordell told of the story of the Chartist movement starting in Wales accurately and clearly like no other, but with a background of humanity of the Mortymer family.

Bibliography

External links

Cordell Country
- a look at the landscape the book was based around
Review in Clarion
- covers both the book and a recent theatre adaptation 1959 British novels Anglo-Welsh novels Novels set in Wales Torfaen Blaenau Gwent Ethically disputed working conditions Books about labour Victor Gollancz Ltd books Doubleday (publisher) books Novels by Alexander Cordell Blaenavon