Melog

One of the most exciting works of modern Welsh-language fiction, available in English for the first time.

The dull life of unemployed academic Dr Jones changes forever when he sees a young man naked on a building top, threatening to jump to his death. Persuaded to come down, the stranger is befriended by Jones. Melog says he is exiled from Laxaria, a country colonised by Sacria, which has banned the Laxarian language and destroyed its books. He has come to Wales in search of a lost Laxarian manuscript, the Imalic, the only surviving copy of his country's legends.

Drawing on the themes of cats, non-communication and political oppression, Melog is at once a tender story of friendship and a satire of the purpose and intent which dominate people's lives. One of the most distinctive Welsh novels of recent years, it is eloquently translated by Christopher Meredith.

Mihangel Morgan lives in Aberystwyth, where he lectures in modern Welsh literature.

Christopher Meredith is a prizewinnng novelist in the English language. Several of his poetry collections are published by Seren.