Did you know? Richard Burton claimed that he would rather have played rugby for Wales at Cardiff Arms Park than Hamlet at the Old Vic. Local rivalries between choirs in the 'land of song' used to be so fierce that fights would break out following singing competitions. Roald Dahl was an RAF fighter pilot during the Second World War, and a near-death crash landing inspired his first published work. The Little Book of Welsh Culture is a fast-paced, fact-filled journey through the cultural heritage of Wales, crammed full of myths, traditions and personalities. Experience the country's immense artistic legacy as never before, from the medieval legends surrounding King Arthur and The Mabinogion to its modern-day transformation into a thriving filming location for big-screen blockbusters. Discover the truth behind the ancient druidic rituals of the National Eisteddfod, separate the facts from the fiction that surround Dylan Thomas' infamous lifestyle, and learn how Wales successfully regenerated the Doctor Who franchise – and unearth some fascinating secrets and hidden gems along the way.

This is the first book in the thrilling new DI Tudor Manx series.

Chronicles the misadventures of Mark Renton and his friends as they cope with economic uncertainties, family problems, drug use, and the opposite sex in 1980s Edinburgh.

Dolores Gauci, the youngest daughter in a family of six, watches as her father gambles away the family's money and eventually their lives.

Working-class stories are not always tales of the underprivileged and dispossessed. Common People is a collection of essays, poems and memoir written in celebration, not apology: these are narratives rich in barbed humour, reflecting the depth and texture of working-class life, the joy and sorrow, the solidarity and the differences, the everyday wisdom and poetry of the woman at the bus stop, the waiter, the hairdresser. Here, Kit de Waal brings together thirty-three established and emerging writers who invite you to experience the world through their eyes, their voices loud and clear as they reclaim and redefine what it means to be working class. Features original pieces from Damian Barr, Malorie Blackman, Lisa Blower, Jill Dawson, Louise Doughty, Stuart Maconie, Chris McCrudden, Lisa McInerney, Paul McVeigh, Daljit Nagra, Dave O’Brien, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Anita Sethi, Tony Walsh, Alex Wheatle and more.

The first volume in Alexander Cordell's classic trilogy of mid-nineteenth century Wales. Set in the grim valleys of the Welsh iron country during the turbulent times of the Industrial Revolution, this unforgettable novel begins the saga of the Mortymer family - a family of hard men and beautiful women, all forced into a bitter struggle with their harsh environment, as they slave and starve for the cruel English ironmasters. But adversity could never still the free spirit of Wales, or quiet its soaring voice, and the Mortymers struggle on even as the iron foundries ravish their homeland and cripple their people. Rape of the Fair Country launched the bestselling career of Alexander Cordell in 1959 and went on to sell millions of copies in seventeen languages throughout the world.

H. V. Morton's famous and much-loved travelogue of Wales. Singularly susceptible to Celtic romance and history, H. V. Morton goes in search of Wales, and finds equal delight in climbing Snowdon (inclement weather aside) and going down a coal mine. Bustling with intriguing local stories and characters, Morton's fascinating account reaches from the scenic grandeur of the north to the domestic beauty of the industrial south. In the Vale of Clwyd it rains "with grim enthusiasm," while at the Eisteddfod in Bangor, he is "slightly worried by the trousers of bard and druid, which are visible for a few inches below their gowns. Father Christmas has this same trouble with his trousers." Anecdotal, leisurely, full of character and event, insight, and opinion, this is travel writing of the very highest order.

Booker Prize Winner A pub gathering of elderly married couples devolves into booze-inflected reminiscing—and complaining—in this “sharp and funny” English comedy about marriage, aging, and friendship (The Washington Post). Age has done everything except mellow the characters in Kingsley Amis’s The Old Devils, which turns its humane and ironic gaze on a group of Welsh married couples who have been spending their golden years—when “all of a sudden the evening starts starting after breakfast”—nattering, complaining, reminiscing, and, above all, drinking. This more or less orderly social world is thrown off-kilter, however, when two old friends unexpectedly return from England: Alun Weaver, now a celebrated man of Welsh letters, and his entrancing wife, Rhiannon. Long-dormant rivalries and romances are rudely awakened, as life at the Bible and Crown, the local pub, is changed irrevocably. Considered by Martin Amis to be Kingsley Amis’s greatest achievement—a book that “stands comparison with any English novel of the [twentieth] century”—The Old Devils confronts the attrition of ageing with rare candor, sympathy, and moral intelligence.

From the author of I Saw a Man comes a powerful drama in verse that captures both the trauma of modern warfare and the difficulty of transitioning back to normal life after combat. In early 2008, three young friends from Bristol decide to join the army and are deployed to the conflict in Afghanistan. Within a short space of time the three men return to the women in their lives—a wife, a mother, a girlfriend—all of whom must now share the psychological and physical aftershocks of military service. Written from the points of view of each soldier, Sheers explores not only their experiences in the field of battle, but also the grueling process of recovery following a debilitating injury, the strain of PTSD on a new marriage, and the emotional toll of survivor's guilt among soldiers and their loved ones at home. Drawing on interviews with soldiers and their families, Pink Mist illuminates the enduring human cost of war and its all too often devastating effect upon the young lives pulled into its orbit. A work of great dramatic power, documentary integrity, and emotional intensity.

A boy's coming of age early this century in a village in Wales. A tale of poverty, failed strikes, death, madness, and refuge in religion. The late author was a poet and journalist.