Open Secrets

Open Secrets, the fifth volume in the Land of the Living sequence, finds Amy Parry and her husband, the poet John Cilydd More, confronted with not only the destruction and desperation of the Second World War, but also the strain of conflicting political beliefs on their marriage. As Amy struggles to balance her loyalty to her family with her own independent ambitions, she becomes involved with the welfare of German refugees, the Labour movement and war work in ways that find little favour with her husband and even less with Nanw, her jealous sister-in-law. Their compelling story unfolds against the turmoil of a radically changing world.

Emyr Humphreys is one of the most gifted contemporary novelists. He has an instinctive sense of the ways in which men and women are shaped by their environment, an eye for the incident that reveals character, a deep feeling for the poetry which is part of everyday life and for the rhythms in which it expresses itself in ordinary speech.',A unique portrait of the artist and the places that shaped him.' Western Telegraph required reading for those visitors who flock to Swansea on the Dylan Thomas trail.'