Library of Wales: Withered Root, The

Reprinted by Parthian as part of the Library of Wales series being funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and the Welsh Books Council, Rhys Davies’s 1927 novel about the Welsh Revival tells the riveting and moving tale of the rise and fall of its intense and charismatic leader Evan Roberts, fictionalised here as Reuben Daniels. Born in a poor mining community in the Valleys to a feisty but alcoholic mother and a quietly long-suffering and religious father, Reuben’s growing sense of spirituality and need for meaning and purpose in life lead to the discovery of a powerful talent for inspired oration. Putting his talent to the service of God, the young Reuben is almost single-handedly responsible for refilling the pews of the increasingly empty chapels of Wales. Although his faith in God never wanes, his belief in human beings and their essential goodness is gradually undermined and the death of a child, trampled underfoot by the crowd at one of his meetings, leads to his mental breakdown. There is a Lawrentian quality about Davies’s writing and his ability to capture the intensity and ambivalence of intimate relationships – between mother and son, between a man and a woman, and between male friends. The female characters are portrayed as immensely powerful, and their relationships with men are perceived in terms of power and lust rather than genuine love. And all against the backdrop of an impoverished community in which people seek to make the day-to-day misery of life bearable by escaping into religion, sex, alcohol or intellect. Predating Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World by just five years, The Withered Root has a cast of characters who represent similarly disparate notions about life and utopia: the pleasure-seeking and amoral Eirwen; Reuben, with his need for values, beliefs and ritual; and the mordant, atheistic Philip. There are disappointments here, none of them to do with Rhys Davies or his writing. Having recently read Dorothy Edwards’s Rhapsody and its excellent Foreword (also published in the Library of Wales series), I was disappointed by the Foreword here, which I found uninformative and self-indulgent. Secondly, the text seems to contain a number of printing errors and the main character is Reuben Daniels, not Reuben Daniel, as he appears on both the back cover and in the Foreword. This is a fantastic book – very much of its time but still truly compelling and thought-provoking. -- Suzy Ceulan Hughes @ www.gwales.com