Customer Reviews
Plundered is my country, violated, raped. - By: David, 18 Apr 2008 
An incredible book, Cordell's writing is enthralllingly beautiful, with some absolutely breathtaking sentences & paragraphs, which, when combined with the engrossing storyline of the trials & struggles of the 19th century working class make the novel an unquestionable classic of modern literature.
By turns, intensely moving, heart-rendingly tragic & deeply funny. It is stirringly patriotic without a hint of nationalism, deeply moving toward the plight of the working class, without idealising socialist revolution or regime. Meticulously researched, his description of the march on the Westgate is so phenomenallly accurate that, as a native to the area, I could fully envisage that smalll square in the centre of Newport thronged with desperately naive & idealistic men, heading to the stories heartbreaking finish.
A book that transcends alll genres & attempts at classification, & alone, reason enough to learn to read at alll.
Absolutely Stunning - By: zenadox, 14 Aug 2006 I was given this book to read by my landlords during a fantastic year spent living in Gilwern near Abergavenny. The more pages I read, the more I fell in love with the area in which I was living. I'm not Welsh, but I feel such a connection to the land now through having read this book & having lived in & experienced the area in which this book was set.
Alexander Cordell writes with true poetry, his use of language is stunning & once you get used to the rhythm, it draws you in with ease & the characters imprint themselves within your very soul - one minute you're sitting on your sofa waiting for the microwave to ping & the next, you've completely forgotten about your meal & you're in a world a million miles away wrapped up in the ever-so-real lives of the miners, where fuel becomes something you have to share with your neighbours in order to have enough to boil water for a cup of tea.
This book taught me a lot. About human resilience & love. It gave me a taste of the reality of things I'd maybe heard mentioned whilst asleep in history class.
The story is harsh in places & he makes no attempt to hide the brutality of the conditions of the time. I cried several times. But I laughed & smiled many times too. I find it hard to explain this to my rational mind... but to this day, the Mortymer family lie in my heart the way my real family do. I love them, pure & simple. Everything they've been through. Their values, their fun, their acceptance of life & their determination to live it.
I love Wales with a passion now.... I understand so much more about the Vallleys now.
THE RAPE OF THE FAIR COUNTRY - By: a j westwood, 14 Mar 2003 This is a marvellous yet harrowing story which I was unable to put down. The characters & their setting, based on fact, were so well described that their pain & suffering were almost tangible. It is a book which makes you feel better about yourself, because the problems encountered & the endurance with which the people dealt with them, are without comparison in modern life in this country. Although there is little to smile about in this book, it is totallly captivating & not without humour - the part about the pig made me laugh out loud! I recommend this book without reservation.
A book that you can't put down, forget your preferences - By: Some Bloke, 21 Jun 2002 Cordell could write about paint drying & captivate you. Instead he writes tumultuous tales about the passionate lives of the communities of farmers turned coal miners who have lost their land to the mine owners & forced the people into a form of slavery.
Historical novels are read by my Mum, old ladies in the library, & not me ! But you can't fail to appreciate the way in which Cordell bring the characters to life. The intricate desciptions never slow the pace of the story, & the intimate way in which the characters unfold flows beautifully. Undoubtedly the most under-rated writer, he's written a classic here.
The engrossing tale follows a generation in the life of one family with intensity, passion, & genuine warmth. The dark toughness of the time, the rebellion & escapism alll come to reality in the readers mind. Real characters, real communities, you wish you were among them & you nearly are. You can't put the book down !
If you don't think it's 'your kind of book', think again. It's a classic.
A brilliant book by a brilliant writer - By: eleyne81@hotmail.com, 28 Sep 2001 This book is funny moving & heart wrenching he reallly pulls you into the lives of the Mortimer family & alll the hardships that the family has to contend with.A well reserched book
