Naxos AudioBooks is proud to be bringing Francis Brett Young (1884–1964) back into the literary limelight. A justly celebrated writer in his time, he drew on his military and medical experience as well as his acute environmental observations to create authentically detailed and poetically rich novels of profound emotional depth. The coal-mining and heavy industry of the Black Country in the West Midlands, observed by the author as a boy, imbue his ‘Mercian’ novels. He creates a sense of place as evocative as Thomas Hardy’s Wessex and his characters are deeply human – flawed, passionate, and unforgettable.

In the hauntingly beautiful Welsh Elan Valley, a house once beloved of the poet Shelley stands in the way of Birmingham’s need for water. It is the Tregaron family’s ancestral home, and the flamboyant, strutting Griffith Tregaron is determined to profit from progress while his daughter Philippa is beside herself at its sacrifice. A young engineer is torn between ambition and conscience; a local girl’s innocence is tested by change. This extraordinary, compelling novel, a flagship for the ‘Mercian’ series, epitomises the perennial contradictions and heartbreaking realities of human achievement.