Book description
A poetic work of fiction on the one hand, an autobiography on the
other, The Life of Rebecca Jones is a powerful, meditative work on one
family s passage through the twentieth century. In the early years of
the last century, Rebecca is born into a rural community in the
Maesglasau valley in Wales; her family have been working the land for a
thousand years, but the changes brought about by modernity threaten the
survival of her language, and her family s way of life. Three of her
siblings are afflicted with a genetic blindness, and it is they who have
the opportunity to be educated elsewhere and to find work, while Rebecca
and her remaining brother maintain the family farm amidst a gradual
influx of new technologies, from the waterpipe to the tractor and
telephone, and ultimately to television. Rebecca s reflections on the
century are delivered with haunting dignity and a simple intimacy, while
her evocation of the changing seasons and a life that is so in tune with
its surroundings is rich and poignant. The Life of Rebecca Jones has all
the makings of a classic, fixing on a vanishing period of rural history,
and the novel s final, unexpected revelation remains unforgettable and
utterly moving. A poetic work of fiction on the one hand, an
autobiography on the other, The Life of Rebecca Jones is a powerful,
meditative work on one family s passage through the twentieth century.
In the early years of the last century, Rebecca is born into a rural
community in the Maesglasau valley in Wales; her family have been
working the land for a thousand years, but the changes brought about by
modernity threaten the survival of her language, and her family s way of
life. Three of her siblings are afflicted with a genetic blindness, and
it is they who have the opportunity to be educated elsewhere and to find
work, while Rebecca and her remaining brother maintain the family farm
amidst a gradual influx of new technologies, from the waterpipe to the
tractor and telephone, and ultimately to television. Rebecca s
reflections on the century are delivered with haunting dignity and a
simple intimacy, while her evocation of the changing seasons and a life
that is so in tune with its surroundings is rich and poignant. The Life
of Rebecca Jones has all the makings of a classic, fixing on a vanishing
period of rural history, and the novel s final, unexpected revelation
remains unforgettable and utterly moving.
