Madam Wen (W. D. Owen)

Teimlai Morys fod y goleuni’n ymadael, a nos yn dyfod i’w fywyd ar drawiad llygad. “Yr ydych wedi eich dyweddïo?” meddai, yn fwy wrtho’i hun nac wrthi hi.

 “Wedi fy nyweddïo, fy nghâr, nid i ddyn ond i adduned. Pan oedd fy annwyl dad yn marw mewn tlodi, gwneuthum adduned y buaswn yn mynnu ennill yn ôl y tir a ladratawyd oddi arnom gan ein gelynion, ac nid ydyw’r adduned eto wedi ei chyflawni.”

Anglesey, the early eighteenth century. Fôn, y ddeunawfed ganrif. A group of bandits ambush the young landowner Morys William and steal a considerable sum from him. He learns that the ringleader of the group is Madam Wen, a figure shrouded in a cloak of mystery. Menawhile, he meets the beautiful Einir Wyn, who has sworn a vow to regain the lands stolen from her father.

Who is Madam Wen? Woman or apparition? Thief, or heroine? A real woman of flesh and blood, or nothing but a whisper lost on the sound of the waves...?

W. D. Owen's novel has it all:  highwaymen, mystery, sword-fights, smugglers, disguises, Jacobites, pirates and plenty of romance: it is the greatest adventure novel of its age in Welsh and in Madam Wen features one of the most likeable heroines in Welsh literature. This new edition, the first in 99 years, introduces the adventure to a new generation, in modern Welsh orthography. 

 "Mr. Owen provides us with a good yarn, for which, in this all too sombre world, we owe him thanks. This is the kind of Welsh book we want: a breathless tale that insists upon being real."

—Liverpool Daily Post

Paperback, 202 pp.