William Glynne-Jones (1907-1977) was a Welsh novelist, short story writer, broadcaster, and journalist. He was born and grew up in Llanelli. When he was 16, he started working at the Glanmor Foundry as a steel foundry 'moulder', but was released at the age of 36 on medical grounds. Soon, he moved to London with his family and started his career as a writer. His novels Farewell Innocence and Ride the White Stallion have been re-published this year as part of the Library of Wales series.
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Farewell Innocence
Starting as an apprentice at Bevan's foundry, Ieuan Morgan enters a new and testing world. His colleagues soon turn out to be his tormentors while life at home is not without its challenges. It is hard for the young man to sustain his dreams of one day being a writer, and of a better world. Things have to get worse before getting better so unemployment casts its long shadow over the town. But the lay-offs give the gifted Ieuan time to read and think and on a visit to the fair to meet Sally, a gentle, consumptive young woman from the wrong side of the tracks. With this, his destiny changes course. Written with a deep authenticity born from bitter experience, William Glynne-Jones depicts life in the fictional town of Abermôr and especially the daily grind of foundry life, in a workplace fraught with dangers. Farewell Innocence is a heartfelt and affecting account of a young man's rites of passage in hard times.
Ride the White Stallion is the sequel to Farewell Innocence, charting the trials and travails of Ieuan Morgan at the foundry and in his family life. It is an account of a young man's creative awakening amid the challenges of domestic penury and downright hard graft. A portrait of an industrial town as well as a convincing character study, Ride the White Stallion is shot through with truth and honesty, twin hallmarks of Glynne-Jones's work.
