Clare Clark: Adder Stone

It is 1963, and the Jones family are being forced from the North Wales farm they have worked for generations. Their valley is to be flooded and turned into a reservoir supplying water to Liverpool.

For Dai, losing the farm means losing the life he knows. His wife Olwen quietly sees the move as a chance to escape the confines of the valley. Their teenage son Emyr responds with anger, becoming convinced that Wales will never be free to determine its own future. Before long, he is drawn into the Welsh Resistance Army.

Inspired by the events surrounding the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley, Adder Stone brings a national struggle over land, language and identity into the heart of one family.

Clare talks about the history behind the novel, writing about a community facing the loss of its home and finding the private lives within a much larger political story. How does a novelist approach a history that remains deeply felt? What happens when loyalty to family pulls against loyalty to country? And who has the right to decide what must be sacrificed in the name of progress?

The evening includes questions from the audience, with copies available to buy and have signed.

Clare Clark is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels. The Great Stink and Savage Lands were both longlisted for the Women’s Prize, with The Great Stink also shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger.

Alongside her novels, Clare reviews fiction for The Guardian and has written for The Times, Literary Review, The Observer and The New York Times. She is also an experienced chair of literary events, regularly appearing at theatres and festivals around the country.