Of the Ninth Verse

Anwen and her brother Idwal are inseparable almost from birth. The childhood they share involves harvesting the hay and looking after the newborn lambs in the Conwy valley, though Anwen sees before her the promise of a degree in Edinburgh or Durham and a career as a mathematician, while Idwal seems destined by his strength and skill to take over the running of the family farm. Then, as their feelings for each other grow darker and more complex, Anwen finds herself put to a terrifying choice. With a luminous prose that reflects the richness of the novel’s inner and outer landscapes, Of the Ninth Verse explores both the violent, destructive forces of passion and the fragility of the human heart.

‘With its austere beauty and precisely knowledgeable evocations of the land, its people, and its rhythms, written in prose “felt in the blood, and felt along the heart,” Of the Ninth Verse has a profound and rooted authenticity that convinces and enchants – an enthralling novel by a writer at the peak of her powers.’

Jim Perrin

Comforting, compassionate, and incredibly convincing.’

Jason Barlow, Some Melodious Plot

‘A compelling narrative of forbidden yet irresistible love.’

Angela Topping, poet and critic

About the Author

A. L. Reynolds lives in the beautiful Conwy Valley, North Wales, where the surroundings add more than a little inspiration to her writing. After a misspent youth pursuing literature and mediaeval studies to postgraduate level, she now divides her time between her children, her cats, and her computer.

Her first novel, How Glass Becomes Sand, was published (as A. L. Doughty) while she was still at university. Since then she has published two other works of literary fiction with Cockatrice Books: Of the Ninth Verse, a portrait of illicit love in Dyffryn Conwy, and Seaside Towns, a novel exploring the weight of personal and cultural history against the backdrop of a Welsh resort. She is a contributor, alongside Carys Bray, Gee Williams, Glenda Beagan and others, to Dangerous Asylums, an anthology of fiction published by the North Wales Mental Health Research Project.

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Paperback Ebook


Paperback: ISBN: 978-1912368273 | Format: 12.7×20.3cm / 5×8” | Length: 422 pages | Price: £12.99.
Ebook ISBN: 978-1912368488 | Format: DRM-free epub | File size: 13.8MB | Price £2.49.

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