‘Has our family got secrets?’ ‘Every family has, Gwenni. Big secrets, small secrets, silly secrets, bad things we want to hide . . . ’ Young Gwenni Morgan has a gift. She can fly in her sleep. She’s also fond of strawberry whip, detective stories and asking difficult questions. When a neighbour mysteriously vanishes, she resolves to uncover the secret of his disappearance and return him to his children. She truthfully records what she sees and hears: but are her deductions correct? What is the real truth? And what will be the consequences – for Gwenni, her family and her community – of finding it out? Gwenni Morgan is an unforgettable creation, and this portrait of life in a small Welsh town on the brink of change in the 1950s is enthralling, moving and utterly real. Mari Strachan’s debut is a magical novel that will transport you to another time and place.
The Reviews
Set in the 1950s in a world on the brink of change, this mesmerising and magical story weaves fantasy with reality and compelling characterisation; it's both spellbinding and inspiring.Easy Living
An assured debut novel, this is a compelling page-turner for all ages.
Alastair Mabbot, Herald
Paperback
336 pages
Price: £10.99
ISBN: 9781847673046 Other editions
Paperback
Mari Strachan has been immersed in books all her life. She has worked as a librarian in academic, school, public, private and prison libraries. She has also been a book reviewer, researcher, translator, copy writer and web editor. She and her husband live part-time on a tiny smallholding in the hills of Ceredigion, West Wales, and part-time on a narrowboat on the Grand Union Canal in London, where much of The Earth Hums in B Flat was written.
Photo by Adam Ifans.
