Translated by Gwen Davies

Primeval in setting and content, Martha, Jack & Shanco is a book where the land itself, the beasts of the farm, and the raucous crows animate the narrative. The coldness of the climate, the dark, the harshness of country life: all are woven into the fabric of a raw and timeless story where the portrayal of the animal world is unflinching, and the human beast plods on relentlessly towards what seems the inevitability of the tragic end. Yet there are occasional glimpses of humour, and, despite the contemporary Welsh setting, this is a novel proper to many recesses in Europe, and beyond, whether today or in times past.

There is a drama unfolding here about marriage and property, as in the best Jane Austen.
— Babel Guide to Welsh Literature

This is a novel which will count among the best ever Welsh novels… comparable to James Joyce’s “Dubliners” in its ability to capture the now of rural Ceredigion family farm life.
— Lyn Lewis Dafis

A perfect study of Welsh frustration [with echoes of] Ishiguro’s “The Remains of the Day…”. The crows’ threatening shadow recall Hitchcock’s films…[the novel’s] use of the colloquial reaches new heights… it brought me close to tears.
—Golwg

Caryl Lewis came to prominence as an author with Martha, Jac a Sianco (Y Lolfa), which won the Wales Book of the Year award in 2005. She has written widely for television, the stage, and for children.

Gwen Davies translator, works as a fiction and creative editor, and has published on Welsh writing in English and Welsh-language literature in anthologies and magazines.