One family, their ups and downs and how the big wide world affects them and their close community – these are the themes of Teulu Lord Bach (Lord Bach Family) author Geraint V. Jones’ latest and possibly most ambitious novel yet.
Concentrating on four individuals from different generations of the Huws family, this epic novel takes us through a hundred years of family history; through the hard times, two World Wars, the decline of region, Thatcherism and New Labour, all within the same small row of houses in Lord Bach street, in Blaendyffryn, a small town in the heart of the North Wales slate quarries.
We start with the character of religious Alis Lord Bach, her attempts to make sense of the complex secrets of her past, and how she tries to cope with the mental health of her son when he returns from the trenches of France . We then move to her younger son Ifan, who is forced to question his own morality and principles as he is forced, like his brother before him, to be drafted this time to the Second World War. As his religion renders him incapable of killing his fellow man, we see his own community turning their back on him.
Bethan Mair, the book’s editor said, "The experiences these boys have are truly horrendous...the cruelty Ifan experiences as a conscientious objector is one of the most harrowing parts of the novel."
We then move to Huw, Ifan’s nephew, who decides to go into the airforce, against his uncle’s wishes, and who is badly injured and taken prisoner. Through his story, we learn of the effect this has on him; and the physical and mental scars he bears, as the once placid man grows bitter. We finish with Huw’s own nephew, Arthur, son of Ifan, who has left Blaendyffryn and raised a family in Bangor . As huge changes take place in society, so too do they for the Lord Bach family, their children and their children’s children. With each new generation of the Huwsus, the changes taking place a global level affect them, their beliefs and their decisions directly...exactly as they affected our own families.
"The story of Lord Bach is the story of Blaendyffryn, and the story of Blaendyffryn is the story of Wales," Bethan Mair added.
Geraint V. Jones said, "I toyed with the idea of writing a novel set in the First World War, but then I thought ‘what about a book that spans a whole century, that hopefully shows how things have changes, how people’s attitudes have changed, and how people’s lives have changed."
Indeed, the novel and the characters within it meddled in the author’s head for many months before he felt ready to write, until in the end he just had to begin: "If a story won’t let go of you, then you have to find a way of putting it on paper," the author explained.
Having received a ‘Creative Wales’ grant from the Arts Council of Wales for ‘Ambitious Creative Work’, the author was able to begin the daunting task of collating all the research that goes in to a novel such as this: "This novel is the product of that work," Bethan Mair continues. "Geraint put a lot of work into ensuring that he got the background of the First World War and Second World War right. And even though Geraint comes from Blaenau Ffestiniog, the research he undertook into Blaena has gone into it too. But by far the most ambitious aspect of the novel is its scope and length, as the book is over 650 pages long."
Although Blaendyffryn, where the novel is set, is a fictional town, the author himself admits that it is fairly obvious on which town Blaendyffryn is based, "The novel is pure imagination, but there isn’t much doubt where Blaendyffryn really is," says Geraint V. Jones. "Blaenau Ffestiniog is such a huge part of me, and the town’s spirit is inextricably linked to the stories and the characters in the book. But I must emphasise that this is only a small glimpse at the community I remember and how I’ve imagined it to have been during my grandparents’ time," he adds.
Bethan Mair added, "Blaendyffryn itself is almost as strong a character as the individual members of the family. And as the family deteriorates, the community also changes... and disintegrates."
This is a true tour de force of a novel, rich in history and the experiences of generations, spanning a century which saw terrible anguish and loss. But as well as that, it makes us realise how close we are, still, to individuals whose lives weren’t so terribly different from those of Teulu Lord Bach
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