Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Adder Stone by Clare Clark, which was published on 5th November by Wilton Square Books. My thanks to Amy at Eye Books Group for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.
About the Book
It is 1963 and in north Wales the Jones family are being forcibly ejected from the land they have farmed for generations. Their valley is to be drowned, turned into a reservoir for the people of Liverpool.
While her husband Dai is grief-stricken, Olwen Jones privately sees it as a blessing, an unforeseen chance to escape the narrow confines of the valley. But for her teenage son Emyr, Liverpool’s careless arrogance is proof that Wales will never be free to decide its own future until, like Ireland, it breaks the shackles of English imperialism.
Format: Hardback (320 pages) Publisher: Wilton Square Books
Publication date: 5th November 2026 Genre: Historical Fiction
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My Review
Adder Stone is a beautifully written novel based on real events, the flooding of the Tryweryn valley in north Wales to make way for the construction of a vast reservoir to supply water to the city of Liverpool in the 1960s. This is the sort of historical fiction I absolutely love because I learn about people, places and events I was unaware of before.
The book opens at the point where the long campaign by the people of Capel Celyn to prevent the project going ahead has failed and the last families are being evicted from land they have lived in and farmed for generations. Among them are Dai Jones, one of the leaders of the campaign, his wife Olwen and their teenage son Emyr. Having resisted to the end, their eviction is carried out with unbelievable callousness, the bulldozers moving in the moment they leave their home. The destruction of the church and even the removal of bodies from the graveyard is a final act of erasure of a community.
For Dai, the eviction is a moment of finality. On the day itself he shocks Olwen and Emyr with the ferocity of his actions. He feels defeated and soon retreats into himself, seemingly heedless of the effect on his wife and son.
Emyr reacts differently. He is fired up with anger, regarding the flooding as yet more evidence of England’s disregard for the Welsh people, their culture and the Welsh language, the village being one of the few remaining Welsh speaking communities. He is swayed by those who argue Wales must gain its independence. Although some seek to achieve this through political means, others declare the only answer is direct action. He’s an impressionable boy and is frustrated by his father’s apparent acceptance of the situation.
Olwen acts as the lens through which we view events. Her reaction to the destruction of the village is less straightforward. She recognises it as a potential opportunity to escape the confines of a small community which has always been unwelcoming towards her family, and to experience life in the wider world. However, she knows she could never persuade Dai to leave. She also feels a spiritual connection with the area, recalling the myths and stories told to her as a child by Mari, her grandmother (or mother, I never did work out quite which).
With Dai unable to rouse himself from his deep depression, Olwen is forced to become the household’s breadwinner and, to Emyr’s fury, she accepts a job as a cleaner on a local estate owned by an Englishman.
Olwen is fiercely protective of Emyr. She wants a better future for him, encouraging him to stay on at school and gain his qualifications. When she fears he has been drawn into the murkier side of the campaign for Welsh independence, she reacts with fury and not a little guile. I found Olwen an exceptionally believeable character who, although experiencing moments of despair, continually finds reserves of strength on which to draw. I felt her sadness at the change in Dai from the man she married but could also understand her frustration with him as he withdraws into himself.
I’ll be honest there were a few elements of the book that didn’t quite work for me but I absolutely loved the way the author brought out the harsh beauty of the landscape and the cruelty and unfairness of its desecration.
In three words: Compelling, absorbing, emotional
Try something similar: Land by Maggie O’Farrell
About the Author
Clare Clark is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels including The Great Stink and Savage Lands, both longlisted for the Women’s Prize. Her books have been translated into seven languages. She lives in Wiltshire.
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