Novel
How Green Was My Valley
Richard Llewellyn · 1939
Synopsis
As he is about to leave the valley where he grew up, Huw Morgan tells what it was like. He is the youngest son of a family of miners, six boys and three girls. The father, a respected miner, wants to settle disputes without a strike; his elder sons side with the union. The slag heap grows year by year above the houses. Huw, gifted at study, glimpses a life other than the mine. His sister Angharad loves the minister Gruffydd, a poor man.
Context
The novel appeared on 2 October 1939 and at once became a bestseller in Britain and America. The studio first wanted to shoot on location, in the Welsh valleys, and in colour; the war ruled it out, and the valley was rebuilt in the hills of California. The film was released in October 1941 and beat Citizen Kane for the Oscar for best picture. Its author had lived in the valley he describes with a miner, Joseph Griffiths, and had listened to the families there.
Who it is for
About five hundred pages; translated into French as early as 1942 by Berthe Vulliemin, a translation still being reissued.
Prizes and reception
It received the American National Book Award in 1940; the John Ford film adapted from it won five Oscars from ten nominations.
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