The most famous Welsh novel?

The most famous opening sentence, novel and author in the Welsh language. The first Cromen book – and where better to start?
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“Mab llwyn a pherth oedd Enoc Huws, ond nid yn Sir Fôn y ganwyd ef.”

The most famous opening sentence, novel and author in the Welsh language. A literal translation would be – "Enoc Huws was a son of the grove and hedge, but he wasn't born in Anglesey." A son of the grove and hedge is an experssion for an illegitimate child.

Enoc Huws comes face to face with Richard Trefor – one is a painfully shy but successful merchant and the other is a rich Captain, the master of a lead mine and father to Susi. There's a death at the beginning of the novel and a marriage at its end but between those two events we meet a housekeeper, a policeman, a minister and a shoemaker as well as a few rogues and humbugs.

Daniel Owen, 1836-1895, was a tailor in Mold (Yr Wyddgrug) and described his society at the end of the 19th Century. His novels were published one episode at a time in magazines and newspapers: Enoc Huws and Gwen Tomos in Y Cymro; Rhys Lewis in Y Drysorfa.

Enoc Huws is available as a digital e-book in epub and mobi formats through the Cromen shop and as a paperback book on Amazon and Lulu – go to the Enoc Huws page for further information.

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