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Margiad Evans

The Nightingale Silenced, transcribed by her nephew Jim Pratt from three previously unpublished manuscripts, offers a unique account of the last years of Margiad Evans' life, which was irreversibly changed by the onset of epilepsy at the age of 41.
The first part, Journal in Ireland (1949) tells of a joyous and inspirational holiday, free from epilepsy. The second, Letters to Bryher (1949-1958) is a selection from letters to Evans' friend and benefactor Winifred Ellerman (the English author Bryher). They contain a vivid account of her pregnancy, the birth of her daughter, her frustration at the impact of her illness on her writing, and finally resignation at the terminal nature of her condition. The third part, The Nightingale Silenced (1954), is an evocative and harrowing memoir describing her experiences as an inpatient after her condition became acute. The book closes with five of her poems, written during her final months in hospital, which she intended to publish with The Nightingale Silenced. She died at only 49 in 1958.
This new compilation from a courageous young novelist and poet of great promise, silenced too soon, is an enlightening example of writing on the experience of terminal illness.

Honno Press

Welsh Women's Classics

The Nightingale Silenced: and other late unpublished writings

This autobiographical account from a courageous young novelist and poet of great promise, silenced too soon, is an enlightening example of writing on the experience of terminal illness.

A Ray of Darkness

One is in everything. One lives throughout the universe and beyond...

One of the most remarkable women writers of the mid-twentieth century, Margiad Evans is a key post-modern Welsh author in the English language.

Written as a series of nature journals, Margiad Evans' Autobiography (1943), is an extraordinary experiment in what she called 'earth writing'. It explores in delicate and precise detail the writer's intensely-felt, even mystical relationship with the natural world. From 1941, she lived in a farmworker's cottage, Potacre, on the summit of a hill above Llangarron and in sight of the Welsh mountains. A meditation on the difficulty of translating the reality of the 'now' into words, Autobiography traces a spiritual journey towards understanding the profound connection between all living things.

Autobiography

The first print collection of Dorothy Bonarjee's verse

In February 1914, Dorothy 'Dorf' Bonarjee was awarded the Bardic chair at the UCW Eisteddfod for verse. She was the first woman and first non-European to win Wales' most prestigious literary prize.

In their 34th Welsh Women's Classic, Honno Welsh Women's Press presents the first publication of Dorothy Bonarjee's verse alongside a vivid account of the poet's extraordinary life in India, London, Wales and France.

Poet Dorothy 'Dorf' Bonarjee was born in India in 1894 into an elite Bengali family. As a child, she moved to London and in 1912 she enrolled at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth. Two years later, she was awarded the Bardic chair at the Eisteddfod, and went on to publish poems in Welsh journals. Bonarjee later took a law degree at the University of London and eloped with a French artist. France remained her home for the rest of her life.

The Hindu Bard: The Poetry of Dorothy Bonarjee

Anna Maria Bennett

The first republication of this bestselling, influential novel since 1794, responding to Bennett's rising profile.Marked by the sometimes scandalous life experiences of its author, Ellen, Countess of Castle Howel (1794) is an insightful, often humorous look at Wales, and Britain, at a time of changing social norms and attitudes. Raised in relative seclusion in Wales, where she is preyed on by a corrupt English lord, Ellen marries Lord Castle Howel, a wealthy, older man, in order to save her grandparents' ancient estate.Transplanted to London, accompanied by her indefatigable Welsh maid, Winifred, Ellen's innocence about the workings of fashionable society brings about a separation from her husband and the loss of her reputation. Following a dash to the north of England, where she gives birth to her son, she is reunited with her husband and her good name is restored.When Lord Castle Howel is killed in a riding accident, Ellen returns to Wales and sees her and her family's fortunes transformed.An informative introduction contextualizes Anna Maria Bennett's life and writings.A seminal, insightful, witty example of the Wales-related novels which were ragingly popular in the Romantic period.A humorous and dramatic lens on a changing Welsh and British society.