This Stolen Land

‘We’ve stolen the land from the sea. And every day the sea is trying to steal it back.’

The Gwent Levels line the north shore of the Severn Estuary in South Wales: Chepstow at their head; their more famous cousin, the Somerset Levels, across the water; the Welsh capital, Cardiff at their feet. You could waste an hour crossing the Levels by motorway. Or brush aside the journey by train. But writer Marsha O’Mahony has chosen the slow route of foreshore, footpath, and country lane. Over the course of two years, she meandered from village to village collecting conversations and anecdotes as she went. The result is a remarkable oral and social history of this unique landscape and the people who live there.