Our Bookshelf
Browse our Bookshelves, selected annually by the Exchange as a window to recent Welsh literary works which we recommend for translation.
Caryl Lewis, author of Drift
“Beautiful, incredibly painterly and full of breathtaking details. It is simultaneously dreamlike and nightmarish, funny and heartbreaking. A devastating portrait of a particular place, which draws you in with its brutality and beauty.”
Claire Pickard, TLS
"In the novella's extraordinary, cathartic denouement... the boundaries between the real and mythic are further broken down. Rosalind will seek reparation for "the sin of man"... as well as vengeance on behalf of those who have been damaged by it. It is an unsettling and memorable end to a powerful, unusual debut."
Daily Mail
“McCarthy... combines poetic lyricism with an unflinching social realism in a jagged little novel full of predatory male violence and feminine resilience.”
Observer
“Bold storytelling, lyrical observations and a cast that includes an octogenarian drug dealer propel an atmospheric novella full of questions about female strength.”
The Unbroken Beauty of Rosalind Bone
Tucked into the Welsh valleys, encircled by silver birch and pine, the village of Cwmcysgod may appear a quiet, sleepy sort of place. But beneath the surface, tensions simmer, hearts ache, and painful truths threaten to emerge.
Sixteen-year-old Catrin Bone knows only what she has been told. Now, she is beginning to question her small world, and a version of the past that seems to entrap and embitter her reclusive mother, Mary.
Mary had a sister once, a girl of unparalleled beauty. Why did she disappear from the village in a shroud of shame all those years ago - and where is she now?
Meanwhile the Clements brothers, skint and all out of hope, run rampant across the hills and lanes. And old Dai Bevel, whose frailty masks a dark history, dreams of a girl he used to know...
The sins of the past are approaching, for it takes a village: to raise a child, to bring down a woman, to hide something monstrous and to look the other way.
In this tender, sly, exquisitely wrought novella, a unique cast of characters give voice to their versions of the truth. But it is the story of Rosalind Bone, of her strength and of all that she has endured, that rises above the rest, shimmering with hope and possibility...
- Doubleday (2023)
Sophie Baker
+44 (0)20 7393 4425
Email Sophie Baker
German - Jumbo
Italian - Neri Pozza Editore
Spanish - Ediciones Siruela
Videos
Watch Author discuss and read from Meet the Author: Manon Steffan Ros
Watch Author discuss and read from Poetry Connections on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Jasmine Donahaye on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Translating Minority Languages in the Literary Translation Centre
Watch Author discuss and read from Digwyddiad Diwrnod Rhyngwladol Mamiaith 2021
Watch Author discuss and read from Alun Davies | Ar Lwybr Dial (Pursuit of Vengeance)
Watch Author discuss and read from Cyfnewid Anrhegion
Watch Author discuss and read from Iaith y Nefoedd (The Language of Heaven) | Llwyd Owen
Watch Author discuss and read from Mari Strachan on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Aled Islwyn on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from The Party Wall | Stevie Davies
Watch Author discuss and read from The Jeweller | Caryl Lewis, translated by Gwen Davies
Watch Author discuss and read from We Could Be Anywhere By Now | Katherine Stansfield
Watch Author discuss and read from Footnotes to Water | Zoë Skoulding
Watch Author discuss and read from Gwirionedd | Elinor Wyn Reynolds
Watch Author discuss and read from Stillicide | Cynan Jones
Watch Author discuss and read from The Mission House | Carys Davies
Watch Author discuss and read from Wing | Matthew Francis
Watch Author discuss and read from Filò | Siân Melangell Dafydd
Watch Author discuss and read from Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru yn cyflwyno Ffon yr Her Gyfieithu i Grug Muse yng Nghricieth on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Her Gyfieithu 2020 Translation Challenge
Watch Author discuss and read from Zafer Şenocak 'Nahaufnahmen’
Watch Author discuss and read from Grug Muse 'Craffu' on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Eleoma Bodammer 'Close ups' on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Tony Bianchi on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Damian Walford Davies on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Owen Martell on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Fflur Dafydd on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Wiliam Owen Roberts on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Deborah Kay Davies on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Lloyd Jones on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Stevie Davies on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Owen Sheers on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Jasmine Donahaye on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Siân Melangell Dafydd on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Lloyd Markham on Bad Ideas/Chemicals
Watch Author discuss and read from Llŷr Gwyn Lewis on Rhyw Flodau Rhyfel (Some Flowers of War)
Watch Author discuss and read from Llŷr Gwyn Lewis on 'Fabula'
Watch Author discuss and read from https://player.vimeo.com/video/452198481
Watch Author discuss and read from https://player.vimeo.com/video/448562290
Watch Author discuss and read from https://player.vimeo.com/video/448566977
Watch Author discuss and read from Manon Steffan Ros on Llyfr Glas Nebo on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from https://player.vimeo.com/video/448576310
Watch Author discuss and read from https://player.vimeo.com/video/453687535
Watch Author discuss and read from Darllen y Byd - Llenyddiaeth Ryngwladol i Blant yn y Gymraeg
Reviews
“Beautiful, incredibly painterly and full of breathtaking details. It is simultaneously dreamlike and nightmarish, funny and heartbreaking. A devastating portrait of a particular place, which draws you in with its brutality and beauty.”
Read more reviewsCaryl Lewis, author of Drift