Elgar Davies, Hon. Sec. of Pontlast RFC; scandalised Elmyra Mouth; lawyer Bunny Leyshon; Jehoidah Wetter, public convenience attendant; dream girl Dottie Lemon; Esme and her famous fly-half husband. The characters from Alun Richards’s classic short stories are joined by new figures soon to be held in equal affection: T.J., leading figure in the new television company; milkman Jimmy Reeve; Ben Brayley, returning celebrity; Huw Pugh-Jones, who gets the boating bug.

From the valleys chip shop to Broadcasting House, and from the rugby club to the yacht club, Alun Richards creates a world marked by his acute observation and exact ear for dialogue. Surefooted in the politics of relationships, adept at his reading of social strata, sympathetic to the weaknesses of his characters, Richards is writing at his best in these memorable stories.

"Not a word wasted... just pellucid prose. His people are real, rounded and running over with life, and he has a splendid knack of seeing them at an angle that we would never have struck ourselves."
Martyn Goff, The Daily Telegraph

"The astonishing blossoms on the familiar. The ordinary gives rise to the fantastical. This is the very stuff of popular literature. Mr Richards has all the storyteller's art, but what secures him his distinctive place is his understanding of how integral a part the narrative sense plays in the arts of life."
Roger Garfitt, TLS

Alun Richards (1929-2004) was born in Pontypridd. His books include six novels and several collections of short stories - most notably, Home to an Empty House, Dai Country, The Former Miss Merthyr Tydfil and Ennal's Point. He was the editor of The Penguin Book of Welsh Short Stories and The Penguin Book of Sea Stories (volumes 1 and 2). His collected plays are published as Plays for Players and he wrote extensively for radio and television, including early contributions to The Onedin Line. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University College of Swansea in 1985.