Our Bookshelf
Browse our Bookshelves, selected annually by the Exchange as a window to recent Welsh literary works which we recommend for translation.
“A story that vaults powerfully through huge, bold, epic swings . . . magnificent writing.”
Russell T Davies
“Words and water collide in this exceptional mystery, where drowned family secrets slowly surface with devastating consequences.”
Suzy Aspley
“Intriguing and moving, The House of Water swept me along its story of drownings, loss and long-buried secrets. I doubt I'll read a better book his year.”
Sarah Ward
“Fflur Dafydd has created both an enthralling murder mystery and a touchstone of a novel that goes to the heart of what it means to belong, and what happens when that belonging is threatened by outside forces.”
Alis Hawkins
“Gripping and utterly compelling, one of those books you'll be dying to get back to. Fflur Dafydd is a gifted storyteller. This is not like any other thriller you have read.”
Michelle McDonagh
“A lyrical and tenderly told exploration of the real ties that bind us - of love and kindness - set against the damage that can be wrought by an obsession with origins and an inability to cut the ties of generational trauma.”
Jane Bailey
The House of Water
“A fast-flowing thriller with an unpredictable twist, The House of Water is also a profound look at family, landscape, language and identity.” Erin Kelly
Iona Griffri returns home one evening to find her family murdered and her father, Eurov, missing. Her family home is entirely submerged in water, and a strange, unnamed girl lies dead in her bed. As the police declare her father the main suspect, Iona is forced to confront how much she really knew about the man who raised her.
With the help of the morgue attendant looking after her family's bodies, Iona goes on a journey to uncover the truth behind those final weeks of her family's life. Hidden in the fragments of her father's final manuscript, recovered from the flood, an unimaginable secret slowly rises to the surface.
A boundary-pushing thriller told through the lens of a lyrical family drama, The House of Water deftly explores questions of place, belonging and cultural trauma. With Dafydd’s compelling literary talent in full flow, this is a book that will rush over you like a torrent from the opening page to the last.
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Hodder & Stoughton (2025)
9781399711128
304pp.
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Hodder & Stoughton (2025)
Euan Thorneycroft & Jessica Lee, A.M. Heath Literary Agents
c/o Emma Walker: emma.walker@amheath.com
Reviews
“A story that vaults powerfully through huge, bold, epic swings . . . magnificent writing.”
Read more reviewsRussell T Davies