I’ve been exploring older Welsh-language literature (a retirement project) and came across Winnie Parry’s 1906 novel Sioned. It’s in the same coming-of-age genre as Anne of Green Gables or What Katy Did — the story of a farmer’s daughter growing up in a Victorian rural community, full of humour, loss, and resilience.

Despite being reprinted several times in (and still in print today), it seems to remain a Welsh secret: has anyone here read it, and does anyone know of other early 20th-century Welsh novels that deserve translation/rediscovery?

TV Tropes' take:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Sioned

Why do you think a novel so popular in Wales never broke out more widely?

Diolch am ddarllen.

by No_Entrepreneur5738

5 comments

  1. If it was never translated into English, that’s probably why it isn’t more widely known. I hadn’t heard of it, but would love to read a translation.

  2. New tidbit I found while digging:

    Sioned was actually adapted into a radio script for the BBC in 1947 — but for some reason (post-war resources, maybe?) the project was abandoned. The script now sits in Box 145 of the BBC archive at the National Library of Wales.

    It makes me wonder why the novel seemed to stall every time it tried to cross into English (until recently, anyway). Do you think it was just bad timing, or something deeper about how Welsh literature was received back then?

  4. There are many examples of Welsh books which are (unfortunately) classics in the Welsh-speaking community but unread/unheard of in English-speaking communities, which is a huge shame.

    I think much of it goes back to the fact that they’re not read in English-language schools (not even the translations).

    Other examples are:

    Un nos ola leuad by Caradog Pritchard

    Traed mewn cyffion by Kate Roberts

    Many Welsh people don’t even know about the Mabinogion.

    If more Welsh people read and recommended these books, they would be more well-known. However, people tend to read non-Welsh books in English and Welsh language literature seems to be only read by those in Welsh-language schools despite there usually being translations available.

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