Born in 1903, a year before the Great Revival in Wales, and only eleven years of age at the outbreak of the First World War. Rhys Davies produced his first published works in 1927. Davies, without any higher education, made a full time living from writing. Famed for his short stories particularly, he published three books in 1927 and this novel was among them.

The Withered Root recounts the troubled life of Reuben Daniels, reared in a South Wales industrial valley, in the bosom of the Nonconformist culture. Therein lies his downfall and that of his people, for The Withered Root is as thoroughly opposed to Welsh nonconformity as My People (Caradoc Evans), though for different reasons. Revivalist passions consist of nothing but a perverse outlet for an all too human sexuality which chapel culture has otherwise repressed. Nonconformity withers the roots of natural sexual well-being in the Welsh, and then feeds off the twisted fruits.

The Withered Root was Davies' first novel and quickly established his name as a young writer to watch. He wrote prolifically throughout a career spanning forty-two years.