Rape of the Fair Country ’is about the Mortymer family, who live in the Welsh valleys and toil in both of the latter industries. The story is narrated by one of the sons, Iestyn Mortymer, as he grows up in a village in South Wales – where the workers are at the mercy of callous and greedy coal owners and iron masters – who not only offer pitifully low wages but also control the shops for the workers, in which they regularly put up prices. It is clearly a toxic recipe for anger and unrest. This seems to have come from The Crawshay’s of Cyfarthfa Castle, by Margaret Stewart Taylor. The other source referred to is The History of the Iron, Steel, Tinplate and other Trades of Wales, by Charles Wilkins 1903.

It's not just the story of the Mortymers, or even of Blaenavon and Nantyglo, but of the Chartist Movement and the birth of Trade Unionism. The events might be fictional, but they're true to the course of history, with Rape of the Fair Country ending with the disastrous Newport Rising of 1839. The research to write the book must have been extensive, but Cordell makes it seem effortless: momentous events viewed through the lense of a very human and likeable family. I found this audio book completely captivating; beautiful and devastating in turns. Above all, I think this book would appeal to anyone who likes a good yarn, but if you also have an interest in historical fiction then this is definitely for you; the story is so well-told that it gave me an introduction to the issues faced by one particular community as well as a broader picture of the struggles of that time. You certainly don't have to be a historian to be drawn in by the story as it's told on such a personal level. Two of the women in the story – Iestyn’s sister Morfydd and the girl he eventually marries, Mari Dirion– work in the mines crawling on all fours dragging coal tubs. When Mari become pregnant she stays in the job, and Morfydd observes:If you can get past the title, which makes it sound like a Mills and Boon bodice-ripper, the rewards are great! This is the delightful, though, at times, harrowing tale of Iestyn Mortymer, a boy from Blaenavon caught up in the birth of the unions and Chartism amidst the beauty of the Brecon hills and valleys, brought to life by another Blaenavon boy, Matt Addis. Violence in fact has a strong presence throughout the entire novel. Iestyn himself is involved in many fights, and tragedy strikes the family again when Iestyn’s sister Edwina is murdered and Morfydd’s fiancé, Richard, is killed in a riot. The Chartists’ commitment to violence is confirmed on the night of 3-4 November 1839 when support for the movement is at its highest. Several thousand marchers, including Iestyn Mortymer, go to the Westgate Hotel in Newport, expecting to seize the town and trigger a national uprising.

I first read Rape of the Fair Country in the mid sixties, not long after it was first published. At the time I'd recently moved to South Wales and was puzzled by an iciness towards the English: I was nudged in the direction of Alexander Cordell's Rape of the Fair Country and The Hosts of Rebecca (the final part of the trilogy, Song of the Earth would not be published until the end of the decade) and soon understood why memories are long and forgiveness slow. There's an unflinching look at the hardships suffered, not just by the Mortymers but by all the workers and their families. Serious injuries and even death are commonplace. Rape of the Fair Country is a novel by Alexander Cordell, 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). [1] 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. [2] Six shillings a week she earns on the trams like an animal, too big round the waist for the towing belt. In less than four months she will drop it in coal dust’.And that is what raped this fair country, and huge swathes of other fair countries as well - money, and abused power. It wasn't, and it still isn't, a purely Welsh problem - it's a universal one, one felt as much in post industrial England today as it is in the Welsh valleys. Although this book does get to that conclusion ultimately, it is still cloaked in a much too parochial anti-Englishness throughout most of the book for my liking. Cordell is at pains to point out through the mouths of his Chartist characters that the appalling conditions the workers endured were not confined to South Wales. He is not, however, interested in giving a social or economic overview, but simply in portraying the price paid by the people of Wales. This short passage, for me, was the most moving: being just two of the more extreme examples, I get a little bit of a sense of "the lady protesteth....". What happened was not the fault of the "English" at all - at the same time as this was happening in south east Wales, similar things were happening all over industrial England, in the steel and coal and the copper and the cotton works in the midlands, the north , the south West and even further afield. The Crawshays, who re portrayed as the main protagonists in this novel, were more Welsh than English. They just had money, which in turn bought them power over people. When we refer to William Crawshay of Merthyr Tydfil we allude to a man who has done more for Glamorganshire, and perhaps for South Wales, than any other living individual. He was one of the few remarkable men who can give a character to a country and a tone to an age. In the extent of his speculations and unbounded enterprise, we cannot name another Cambrian who has done so much and so well or the Principality of Wales.”

The book centres around Iestyn Mortymer, growing up as a child labourer in the mines of the south Wales valleys - fighting, drinking, seducing and struggling under the watchful eye of his strict Calvinistic father. The attitude of “Dada” Hywel is played off against Iestyn’s older sister Morfydd, who clearly represents the reformist views which would come to prominence in industrial Wales. Those who accept their fates versus those who strive for more is always a compelling theme. The sights and sounds of his upbringing are well detailed as he tries to steer himself through this harsh life. Maybe it is because it is coming from the perspective of a young hot-blooded Iestyn, but it seems like every introduction of a female character begins with a description of her breasts and what they are doing (e.g. quivering, bouncing) which is always a bit weird if a woman isn't moving. 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. [3]

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But he was still. Quite still he lay in the fading light of the torches, and his hands were frozen to the musket he held. I wish to God the English had stayed in England and ripped their own fields and burst their own mountains.”