Drift: Winner of the Wales Book of the Year

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I live on a farm, and I’m immersed in nature all the time, but I think what’s particularly interesting is that nature writing doesn’t exist in the Welsh language as a form, and yet the connection is somehow still there. Lewis takes pains to express the individualism of both Nefyn and Hamza, to show that their union is a harmonising, as opposed to disregarding, of their cultural differences. In addition, there was never any real sense of threat from the external forces supposedly trying to tear Nefyn and Hamza apart. I’ve known Gwen a long time and she knows my work in Welsh very well, and that was a great starting point.

I've given it an extra star because Lewis' writing style is very good, but I found the character and plot development to be mediocre. The Fiction Award and Overall Welsh-language Wales Book of the Year Award went to Titus for Pridd (Gwasg y Bwthyn). Joseph is deeply conflicted, and he has somehow conflated preservation with protecting and stifling, he can’t see the difference.It contributes to the novel’s overall surrealism and implies ‘she’ is not important enough to be named.

The book brings together the wild and mysterious Nefyn, and Hamza, incarcerated Syrian mapmaker; exploring vulnerability, trust, and the unexpected ways that love can fill a life up. Nefyn has a close affinity to the workings of the tides, and over time has built up a vast collection of specimens washed ashore into their cove – shells, egg cases, seeds and trinkets from distant lands – which she keeps on display in glass cabinets. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEBUT FROM TWO-TIME WINNER OF WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR CARYL LEWIS: A STORY OF LOVE, MAGIC AND THE IRRESISTIBLE LURE OF THE SEA.We are incredibly pleased that, year-on-year, the Wales Book of the Year Award demonstrates the huge wealth of literary talent in and from Wales. There is a mythic quality to the novel, both in the heroism of ordinary people in the face of power, and the character of Nefyn, with her folkloric affinity to the sea. What I assume were written to be scenes of epic romance, nail-biting danger, and amazing feats of power evoked only a detached interest. The novels claiming the overall prizes this year are both unique but are linked by their sense of place; their magical words are rooted in specific Welsh landscapes.