From windswept mountain trails to the dark depths of the coal mines, this powerful new historical novel for teenagers takes readers on a journey they won’t forget.
Bracken and Bryn: From the Mountain to the Mine is a deeply moving tale of growth, resilience, and connection—between a boy and a wild pony, and between a rural life full of hope and the stark realities of industrial Wales in the 1860s.
Written by acclaimed Welsh author Myrddin ap Dafydd and beautifully translated into English by Susan Walton, this novel opens in the snowy wilderness of Mynydd Hiraethog, a rugged and remote highland between the Conwy and Clwyd river valleys. Here, a boy named Ifan lives among smallholders and roams the hills—until life forces him to look for work elsewhere.
With the coalfields of Flintshire expanding and poverty pressing hard, Ifan joins a group driving wild mountain ponies to the coal mines in Mold. Among them is one special pony, Bracken, and the bond that forms between them becomes the emotional heart of the novel. As Ifan and Bracken transition from the open air of the uplands to the claustrophobic, perilous world underground, readers witness a dramatic transformation in both character and landscape.
This dual setting—half mountain freedom, half mining hardship—brings powerful contrasts to life: fresh air versus coal dust, open skies versus pitch-black tunnels, youthful wonder versus harsh reality.
Set against the backdrop of the Mold riots of 1869, the novel also sheds light on social injustice and the human cost of industrial progress. As Awen Schiavone notes in her review, "We will learn a lot from this historical novel—not only about the poverty and the mines, but also about the deep-rooted culture of North Wales, its language, and the clever, traditional ways of handling wild ponies."
Bracken and Bryn is more than a coming-of-age story—it's a tribute to the wild beauty of the Welsh landscape, the strength of its people, and the bonds that carry us through the darkest places.
Out 6 February 2025
Available at independent bookshops across Wales,
from the publisher Gwasg Carreg Gwalch and on gwales.com.
For press enquiries, contact: llanrwst@carreg-gwalch.cymru