Plant y Gorthrwm (Gwyneth Vaughan)

“'Dylai mamau y wlad ofalu am fagu eu bechgyn o’u babandod gyda syniadau teilwng am eu mamau a’u chwiorydd,' ebe y pregethwr.

'Onid gwaith anodd iawn yw i fachgen barchu ei fam pan nad yw mewn uwch sefyllfa na chader neu fwrdd yn y tŷ, neu, os mynnwch, un o’r anifeiliaid oddi allan?"

The year is 1868 and a significant number of Welshmen are able to vote in an election for the first time. But in an age when voting is completely public, what will the consequences be for those who choose to vote for freedom and justice, and against the establishment?

Originally written in 1905, Plant y Gorthrwm - "Oppression's Children" - was Gwyneth Vaughan's second novel, and of all her novels it is the most obviously political in subjet and tone, and the the one which argues most strongly the cause of all those who experience oppression and injustice, whether that be because of their political views, their social class, their nationality or their gender. This is one of the major works of its period in the Welsh language, by a novelist who deserves to be counted amongst the greatest in Welsh literature.

"[Gwyneth Vaughan's novels] bear comparison with many stories that have proven most successful in England, and they are superior beyond compare to any of the tales about Wales which have been written in English by the English, or those Welsh who cannot speak the language."
—T. Gwynn Jones

Paperback, 328pp.