House of Angels audiobook published

Volume 2 of the saga is published in the Bolinda audiobook edition tomorrow,  August 1st 2020.  Almost 21 hours of captivating listening, though I say it myself.  The readers (Malk Williams and Janine Cooper Marshall) have done another fine job.

Here's a reminder of some of the reviews:

“Placed in the setting of Angel Mountain and the surrounding countryside, this is an exciting story of intrigue, with villains galore, but given a feminine twist by the heroine Martha and her friends, family and servants."

"The diary format is cleverly used to push the story along -- at the end of each chapter, the reader just has to press on to the next. But one is led carefully through the complex story without ever getting lost.”

“The book portrays the heroine’s complex and changeable temperament and shows how she copes with life in a harsh and cruel world. It shows her humour, her strengths and her weaknesses, and because she is far from perfect one likes her all the more.

"I loved the accelerating pace towards the end of the book, and especially the climax itself.”

“There is a tangible reality about Martha. From the honesty of her diary entries she emerges as no perfect lady but as a flawed heroine. She drags you down with her in her battles against depression and carries you up with her into the bliss of new love and the joys of motherhood.”

The audiobook can be obtained from the Bolinda website, or from Amazon Audible and other audiobook libraries.

Where Martha was jailed -- Haverfordwest Castle

Posted on Facebook -- a lovely pencil drawing of Haverfordwest Castle and the roofs of the town below it -- the artist was Roy Saunders.

The saving of the mountain

A tale linked to the writing of "Guardian Angel", in which a mysterious lady called Susanna Ravenhill quite literally saves the mountain of Carningli from destruction......

In one of those strange conjunctions, I had already started to write this book when the Carningli Graziers Association and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park signalled their intent to conduct aerial spraying on the bracken covering the lower slopes with a powerful herbicide. Their intentions were no doubt laudable, but immediately there was a cry of  “Save the mountain!” and a multi-faceted campaign built up a powerful momentum in the space of just a few weeks. It was a genuine grass-roots campaign, with no leaders and no orchestration. Local people felt so strongly about the threatened contamination and desecration of this special place that they promised to sit in on the mountain and to lie down in the spraying zone beneath the helicopter -- in full view of the TV cameras. Neither the graziers nor the National Park staff had taken full account of the number of springs on the mountain that are used for private water supplies.  A petition with over 1,000 signatures was submitted to the PCNPA, and with the officers responsible being placed under inexorable and increasing pressure, the proposals were at last abandoned.   In theory, a consent for the spraying was issued, but it was not worth the paper that it was written on, because -- quite deliberately -- so many onerous conditions were attached that the whole project became non-viable.

At the height of the campaign the mountain suddently produced two guardian angels in the form of a pair of hen harriers which were believed to have nested -- for the first time ever -- in the proposed spraying zone. Hen harriers are the most heavily protected birds in the UK. If the spraying had gone ahead, the Graziers and the PCNPA would have committed a serious criminal offence, and would have been liable for arrest and prosecution. The threat to the mountain described in the novel was of a different kind and was on a different scale, but “economic necessity” was the justification in both cases, and if anybody wants to see the novel as an allegory that’s fine by me..........

On not being dead

Guardian Angel and its theme....

The main scenario of this book, namely the apparent death of the heroine and her subsequent full recovery, may seem to be an unlikely one, but it is by no means impossible. There is even a medical name for it -- the Lazarus Syndrome, named after the man whom Christ is reputed to have raised from the dead. There are many recorded instances of successful resuscitations and even spontaneous “awakenings” of those assumed to be dead, and many learned scientific papers on the subject. A key factor in survival seems to be the cooling down of the body and the gradual slowing of all the vital functions to the point where all signs of life appear to be extinguished. The same principle is used in cryosurgery. The greatest danger in resuscitation is that once a clinical death has occurred, brain damage (usually irreversible) will occur if resuscitation does not take place within a few minutes.

It should be remembered that the three key indicators of clinical death in the mid nineteenth century were lack of breath, lack of pulse, and lack of eye movements. Examinations of “dead” people were often cursory and unreliable. In Victorian times there was a dread of being buried alive, and patent coffins were even marketed which would allow “dead” people to alert the outside world if they suddenly woke up and found that they were six feet under! There were many Gothic horror novels in the Victorian period based on the theme of death and resurrection. The Society for the Prevention of People Being Buried Alive (it really did exist!) encouraged a practice whereby the deceased were left lying in their caskets for days or weeks on end before being deemed sufficently dead to bury. When the Duke of Wellington died in 1858, this macabre postponement ritual reached an extreme. The Duke was not buried until two months after his death.

A character a day: (11) Alban Watkins, dastardly squire

Alban Watkins, squire of Llannerch, plays a short but violent part in the story of Martha Morgan and the Plas. He appears early on, as one of a triumvirate of minor gentry (the others are Benjamin Rice and George Howell) who have designs on the Plas Ingli estate.   Why?  Well, like many of the other small gentry families in West Wales, they have limited amounts of land of modest fertility, houses that are grander than they should be, and large debts.  They have vast pretensions, and their ambitions are centred on good marriages for their children and the expansion of their estates -- with the objective of making their estates "safe" before they default on loans or before they get gobbled up by the bigger fish in the pond.  Watkins's estate on the floor of the Gwaun Valley has some water meadows and extensive woodlands but very few dry and fertile fields -- so he lives financially right on the edge.  The Plas Ingli estate borders his -- and it has wider horizons, south-facing fields, and land which is sloping and well drained.  Very desirable.

At the beginning of the story is he just over 40 years old, with a wife and two daughters -- and he needs dowries for them if they are to "marry up" and find wealthy husbands.  He starts off being a drinking friend of the sinister Moses Lloyd, but behind the scenes Moses is becoming more and more indebted since Watkins buys his drinks for him -- and before long Moses has to share his secret about the Plas Ingli treasure with him, with a promise of a share in the spoils when it is dug up.   This then becomes another motivation for Watkins, who is quite happy to see David and Martha and their family (and their new home) destroyed so that the treasure can be recovered.  The problem is that Moses never does tell Watkins exactly where it is  buried.........

Watkins is a big, overbearing, arrogant brute of a man, completely lacking in "sensibility."  Martha has her first clash with him when the three squires and their wives invite themselves to afternoon tea at the Plas.  They seek to intimidate her and demean her, and this gets her hackles up; and she manages to make them look small and very silly when discussions turn to the treatment of labourers, wages, land management, and even the circulating schools.  From this moment on, Martha is Enemy Number One, since she is clearly seen as somebody intent upon the destruction of the old order.......  Enemy Number Two is Grandpa Isaac, with whom Watkins has a dispute about the administration of justice (they are both magistrates).

Alban Watkins is the man behind the fraudulent claim on the Plas Ingli estate which causes David,  Grandpa Isaac and Bowen of Llwyngwair to go rushing off to London to fight the case in the Chancery Court.  The case is thrown out, and Watkins is arrested and later convicted for fraud and other misdemeanours, and shipped off to the penal colonies in Australia.  All of his debts are called in, and the Llannerch estate collapses.  His wife and daughters flee to Scotland.

In House of Angels Martha is terrified when Watkins reappears, having obtained a free pardon in Australia for services to the crown.  (What those services were is a matter for speculation -- but suffice to say that his actions were so depraved and so brutal down under that a price was placed on his head by assorted Irish convicts -- leading to him having his throat slit down on the Nevern Estuary by an assassin.)

All in all, Watkins is not a very nice fellow --  but as he explains at the end of his life in a letter to his daughter Rose,  all of his actions were driven by the determination (at all costs)  to keep his estate alive, and to provide for his daughters.  So he is indeed a villain, but a tragic figure as well.

A character a day: (10) Shemi Jenkins and his hidden talent

Shemi Jenkins, servant

As an author I’m very fond of Shemi, because he is a seemingly simple fellow who works on the farm and who habitually uses his great strength in working with animals and in shovelling manure. He was born in 1782 into the Jenkins family of Blaenwaun, and he starts work at the Plas in the year 1797. He has a blossoming romance with Sian and marries her in 1810, going on to raise a family of his own. 

But he has hidden depths. The reader sees that he has special powers from the beginning, and this is recognized by both Martha and Joseph. One special talent is the ability to talk with animals, and if there are uncontrollable cattle or horses to be calmed, he is the man to send for. The Wizard of Werndew realizes quite quickly that Shemi will be his successor, and when Martha comes to appreciate his talents fully she agrees that he should go away for training as a wizard. 

So off he goes to study with Dr John Harries of Cwrt-y- Cadno. He comes back and takes over Joseph’s work and his cottage, and from that point on he becomes a sort of mentor for Martha, in spite of the fact that he is much younger than she. 

He features quite prominently in Flying with Angels, and the high point of his career comes in the terrible and comical episode in Brynberian Chapel when he turns the tables on the sanctimonious deacons who are seeking to excommunicate poor Amos from their congregation.

That is one of my favourite episodes from the whole series of novels, and perhaps this explains my affection for the character of Shemi.

Character of the Day: (9) Amos Jones Minor Prophet

Amos Jones, preacher and prophet .... and another who sees things that others do not......

(Warning -- story spoilers in the following text......)

Amos Jones, itinerant preacher, minor prophet and last great love of Martha’s life, is another character of whom I am very fond. He is, like Wilmot Gwynne, a product of his age. Wilmot comes from the white heat of the industrial revolution, and Amos comes from the white heat of religious fervour, as a man intent upon spreading the gospel and saving souls. He is an unlikely lover, for he and Martha have a wide social gulf between them, but they make immediate and easy contact when they first meet, and in some ways Martha finds him similar to her great friend and mentor Joseph Harries. Both Joseph and Amos are fiercely intelligent, radically inclined and lacking in respect for the establishment. They have a similar sense of humour, and speak in a way which Martha finds attractive. They are also instinctively drawn to fight against injustice and to help the poor. Maybe Martha has learned some lessons from her relationship with Joseph, which might have developed further had it not to been for his determination to hide his love, and to protect her from the challenges that would have accompanied an inappropriate marriage. Martha never says this directly to her diary or to anyone else, but maybe, as she felt drawn towards Amos emotionally, she thought “To hell with convention! Now I am going to live dangerously! “ And live dangerously she does.

One of the reasons why Martha and Amos are drawn together is their shared awareness of the world of the supernatural - and that is of course one of the reasons why Martha and Joseph have a natural empathy for one another. But Amos combines a familiarity with ghosts and the other residents of the spirit world with a firm Christian conviction and devotion to his calling as a pastor and itinerant preacher. In an age when many of Martha’s acquaintances specialize in self-indulgence, Amos specializes in self-denial and seems to take pleasure in suffering. This makes him into an ascetic or prophet, and it makes him a very unlikely companion for Martha, who is not particularly religious and who has a long history of conflict with the church and with various rectors over tithe payments and other church matters. But Martha has already had a flirtation with Methodism, and maybe she is excited by the idea that she might learn more about the nonconformist community and its system of beliefs as a means of self-improvement. She has had conflict with the Baptists before, but she does not set out in Flying with Angels to fight with these good people or to humiliate them. I have tried to portray Martha in this story as a more mature and tolerant figure than she was in her younger days, and as a person who genuinely wants to support Amos in his chosen and difficult calling.

The core episode in Martha’s relationship with Amos, namely the episode in which she seduces him in Tycanol Wood, is one of the most crucial episodes in the whole of Martha’s life story. What fol- lows next, tragic and gruesome though it is, leads on to high drama and considerable comedy in the big meeting in Brynberian Chapel. In a book such as this it is always very difficult to juxtapose horror and comedy so closely, and I faced a challenge in writing it down. I am not sure that I have got the balance exactly right, but it was fine fun to try!

Like most of the other men in Martha’s life, Amos is essentially a tragic figure, involved in a loveless and unconsummated marriage and trying to find contentment and even salvation through good works, preferably a long way from the home that he has set up with his frigid wife. Martha gives him happiness, and a good deal of pain as well. He loves Martha with an intensity which he has never experienced before, so that is a sort of fulfillment for him. As the story unfolds Amos realizes that it is his destiny to sacrifice himself in order to save Martha from those who have put a price on her head. He does make the ultimate sacrifice, having arranged things in such a way that his friends are powerless to stop him. So, as pointed out in Chapter 9 of the last book, he is a Christ-like figure who is too good to be allowed to live in an evil world. He has many weaknesses, and Martha is much stronger than he. His destiny is to attract enemies who feel threatened by his goodness, and to suffer an unpleasant death at the hands of vicious men.

Character of the day: (8) Owain Laugharne, who disappeared......

Owain Laugharne, Martha’s lost love

(Warning:  story spoilers galore in the following text.........)

Owain Laugharne, the second great love of Martha’s life, is more central to the story than husband David who dies in February 1805. He is a heroic and at the same time a tragic figure. Much of House of Angels is concerned with the tentative and tender progress of the love affair between Owain and Martha, and the story of their relationship is also a key part of Dark Angel. At the end of that story it appears inevitable that the two of them will be married; but of course that never happens and although Owain survives until 1825 he remains determined to the last that he will not to marry Martha and that he will not thereby remove the inheritance of the Plas Ingli estate from her children and grandchildren. Ironically, they fail to inherit it anyway, since the estate is lost in 1845. 

Owain goes through life with a rather warped sense of duty, and this is of course a great source of irritation to Martha. But she loves him with a fierce passion, and following his return from foreign parts she defies all of the conventions of good breeding by making it obvious to friends and enemies alike that the two of them have an unmarried intimate relationship. That causes considerable grief to the younger members of the Morgan family, who are more concerned about appearance and reputation than is Martha herself. (That is of course not the only occasion on which Martha’s appetite for sex gets her into trouble. Next time round, apart from a dalliance with solicitor Hugh Williams which she gets away with, the lucky recipient of her favours is Jones Minor Prophet.)

So what lies behind Martha’s great love for Owain? Well, he is a very interesting character. He is physically very attractive, as Martha admits at a very early stage in their relationship. She is deeply affected by the sight of Owain splashing about in the pool at Pandy, without a stitch of clothing on, and singing like an innocent child who has not a care in the world. That quality of innocence or naivete is perhaps the crucial feature of Owain’s personality. He is cultured and sensitive, and has an extraordinary sense of decorum. He holds back when others might join in, on the basis that he is un- sure about what might be deemed to be unacceptable behaviour. Even his sister Mary Jane, one of Martha’s greatest friends, jokes about his exaggerated sense of duty and stiff demeanour. That irritates Martha as well, for in spite of her love for him she admits in the pages of her diary more than once that she would like to see more spontaneity and courage when he is with her on the social stage.

The crucial episode which demonstrates Owain’s obsession with decorum and reputation is that in which he writes a letter to Martha before the party at Plas Glynymel. Martha misunderstands his behaviour, which is in reality entirely honourable, and as a consequence ends up drunk and in bed with the dastardly John Fenton. She is angry with Owain for what she sees as timidity and an obses- sion with appearances, and lives to regret her hasty misjudgment of the situation.

Since Owain is a poet, a musician, and a man given to sending flowers to his beloved, one might expect him to be blissfully un- aware of the subtleties of convention and etiquette. After all, many great artists are so self-obsessed that they fail to see the consequences of their actions as they affect other people. So it would have been easy to build into his character wild eccentricities and outrageous deeds. But because he was a sensitive and quiet child, he turns out to be a very naive adult, and this is what underlies his timidity and dithering during the course of his love affair with Martha. And don’t let’s forget that Martha is a desirable young widow with a very young family, and that in the 19th century there are very strict conventions concerning periods of mourning and appropriate behaviour following the death of a husband. Although Martha may not always realize it, many of Owain’s actions are motivated by his desire not to harm the children and always to treat them with affection and respect.

Courage is not something which Owain lacks. During the course of his life he shows an ability to survive the most appalling cruelty. In House of Angels he is terribly mutilated by the villains who believe that he knows the location of the Plas Ingli treasure. He survives that ordeal, although Martha suspects that it has harmed his mind as well as his body. Then, when he disappears for fifteen years out of Martha’s life, he suffers again, tortured as a spy in the complicated wars that afflicted the European mainland in the early part of the 19th century. We never really discover what terrors Owain had to endure, but we are quite certain that the damage was immense. Although he returns from foreign parts somewhat belatedly in 1822 on the night before Martha is due to marry Ceredig, and although she gives up that poor fellow for her old love, Owain has lost most of his youthful vitality and he is never the same again. For a year or two there is a brief passionate interlude in which Martha and Owain offend the sensibilities of the more respectable members of the community. She does not care, or at least professes not to care, and maybe Owain is too ill to care. The story of his sad decline between 1822 and 1825 is not told in detail, but of course it affected Martha very deeply.

But in the last few years of his life, Owen shows that he is strong enough, in spite of his physical weakness, to refuse to marry Martha. And it takes a very strong individual to stand up against the wishes of the Mistress of Plas Ingli!

In case anybody wondered, the story of Owain’s long absence and eventual return probably came into my head because I was al- ready familiar with an old Welsh folk tale which relates a similar oc- currence in the Teifi Valley above Lampeter. On checking, I find that there are very similar stories in folk tale collections from other countries as well -- so there is nothing particularly Welsh about this part of the story. What is unique, I hope, is the use of strong characters in the retelling of an essentially simple tale, and the emotional involvement of the reader in Martha’s dilemma and in the tragic con- sequences of Owain’s sudden reappearance.

Finally there is one question which I am often asked about Owain’s behaviour. Why, people ask, does he remain abroad for fifteen years if he is genuinely in love with Martha? Why does he not move mountains, as a passionate and heroic lover, to return and claim her as his bride? The answers to those questions are provided to some extent in the pages of the Saga, but in his long explanation of his absence in the concluding pages of Dark Angel he describes how he picked up news (faulty news, as it happened) of Martha’s marriage to another suitor. He knows that if he was to return to find her
a married woman, that passion between them would be re-ignited, with the result that several lives would be destroyed. Like many tragic figures, Owain is also a martyr, and I think it is entirely in character for him to remain on the mainland of Europe, carrying his love for Martha like a great cross upon his back in the confident belief that in his suffering he is contributing to her happiness and to the well-being of her family.

A Character a Day: (7) Daisy, the black sheep of the family

Daisy, the black sheep of the family

I have as soft spot for our Daisy, even though she is absent from most of the Saga. She is born in April 1801 as the second of Martha’s four natural children. She has a difficult childhood, and Martha never fully realizes the extent to which the little girl is affected by David’s death when she is still only three years old. She is effectively starved of affection whilst her mother becomes obsessed with baby Brynach, the foundling who arrives one night on the front doorstep of the Plas, and then with the mysterious Nightwalker who makes frequent appearances on the mountain.

In the year following David’s death Daisy disappears, and Martha finds her in the cave, having had a premonition that that is where she would be. During that episode it becomes apparent to the reader that Daisy is a strange child who lives in a fantasy world and who is likely to create problems for her mother in the years to come. Indeed she does create major problems, and Martha loses her emo- tionally and has a series of disputes with her in the difficult years of blossoming womanhood. 

Everything comes to head when Daisy goes off to London, swearing that she will never see her mother again and that she will have no further contact with her home or her family.

After that, as one story follows another, we are occasionally made aware by Martha that she has news of Daisy; but in truth she has rumours rather than accurate information, and all her letters to her errant daughter go unanswered. Just as Martha loses her son Dewi and her youngest daughter Sara she loses Daisy, and the pain of that loss is made more severe by the knowledge that she is still alive but quite disinterested in acknowledging either her roots or a mother’s love.

Then, out of the blue, a fat lady in exotic clothes arrives without warning at the Plas. Daisy has returned, and Martha is overwhelmed. Her first instinct, as in the Biblical story, is to kill the fatted calf and to celebrate. The reunion between mother and daughter is told in quite sparse terms in the final pages of Rebecca and the Angels, but there can be no doubting the depth of a mother’s joy. It turns out that Daisy has led an extremely disreputable and colourful life while she has been away in London, and in the most unexpected way she proves to know some of the most influential people in the capital city, within whose power it is to steer through Parliament an Act which will reform the hated turnpike trusts. She has cavorted with princes and bishops, among others. She has four children by different fathers, but she is still unmarried; and later on, in the pages of Flying with Angels, she finds true love for the first time in her life and marries Dr. George Havard, thereby becoming respectable.

Whatever the excesses of her life in London might have been, in the last book of the Saga Daisy is a reformed character and a loving and supportive daughter. When Martha commits her great indiscretion in Tycanol Wood with Amos Jones everybody else is appalled, but Daisy is thoroughly amused since this is a minor matter indeed when compared with some of the things she has seen and done in London. So things come full circle. The daughter with whom Martha fought so continuously and could not control in her teenage years now becomes the daughter who best understands her mother’s eccentricities and her willful behaviour. That creates a mutual respect and a strong and loving relationship, and Daisy then plays a very important role in protecting Martha and advising her as she plays out what appears to be the final act in her dramatic life.

Then comes "Guardian Angel" -- and in that story Daisy's special skills are made good use of as the story unfolds........

A Character a Day: (6) Wilmot Gwynne, a very rough diamond

Wilmot Gwynne, industrialist

(Warning -- story spoilers to come.....)

Wilmot Gwynne breezes into the story in 1845, and plays quite a prominent part in "Flying with Angels" during the last part of Martha’s life. In some ways he is a comic or a buffoon, and indeed he is part of the comedy duo of Wilmot and Delilah; but he is also much more than that, for as the story develops he shows that he is a multi-faceted character. He is a rough sort of fellow, with very few airs and graces, who has made his fortune in the Swansea Valley through hard work and good judgement. He is a nouveau riche entrepreneur who moves into rural Wales for health reasons, and maybe also because he fancies the idea of being a squire rather more than being an industrialist. 

But he is generous to fault, and when he takes over the Plas he shows great sensitivity in allowing Martha to remain in the house she loves and to maintain her status in the community. He could have sent her packing, and in the process destroyed her life and her family; but he chooses not to do that, maybe because like most of the other men in the Saga he is more than a little in love with Martha. 

As the “final" chapter in Martha’s life unfolds, and moves inexorably towards its tragic conclusion, Wilmot again proves to be a steadfast friend to Martha, Amos and the Morgan family. And when Martha appears not to have died at all at the end of “Flying with Angels”, Wilmot shows his worth as a man who is smart as well as kind, in the narrative of “Guardian Angel” — who was the real guardian angel in that story? The little boy called Merlin, or the rough diamond called Wilmot Gwynne?

What does Master Gwynne expect as payback, after the provision of so much moral and financial support? Possibly some enhanced status in the community, which is what he needs in order to establish himself as a respectable squire. Maybe he is also seeking to demonstrate to his family and acquaintances that he has that almost indefinable quality called sensibility. That too, above all else, is what marks a member of the gentry out to from the mass of the population - and it is assumed very often in the literature of the day that sensibility comes only with good breeding, and cannot simply be acquired by those of low breeding who suddenly become rich. Wilmot shows us that easy assumptions about the “worth” of individuals are more often wrong than right.

Wilmot's darling wife Delilah -- a cartoon like this is maybe a little unkind......

A Character a Day: (5) Patty Ellis, Prostitute

Patty Ellis, prostitute

Patty Ellis appears for the first time in House of Angels, and becomes a key character in the stories from that point to on. Although she is a prostitute when Martha first meets her, the two women are immediately drawn into a close and affectionate relationship. It would have been socially quite unacceptable for the mistress of an estate in the early 19th century to have been seen in the presence of a prostitute, but it is one of Martha’s great strengths that she cares nothing for wagging tongues and disapproving looks and soon after they meet she even flaunts her friendship with Patty. 

Initially the relationship might seem to be a very one-sided one, but there are in fact great mutual benefits in it. Patty initially offers to help Martha because she has information which is of use to her, and she has no thought at all that she might be repaid in some way. But as the friendship blossoms, Martha realizes that Patty has suffered appallingly at the hands of the evil Joseph Rice, and she also comes to appreciate that Patty is a very strong young woman, with an instinct for survival.

So together the two women plot to achieve the downfall of Rice and his companions, and after that is achieved Martha and Patty develop a much more comfortable friendship. That friendship also has a business side to it, for as Martha gets older she comes to value greatly her contacts among the most disreputable elements of local society. She often needs information, and Patty often knows where it can be obtained. And as a sign of her affection - and indeed respect - for Patty, she helps her in a number of ways, including the setting up of the church wedding, when Patty and Jake Nicholas de- cide that they wish to be married.

Patty is of course very beautiful, and it is not surprising perhaps that Jake, who was originally at client, should fall madly in love with her and should then decide to make her a respectable woman. Their wedding is quite a bizarre, and Martha loves every minute of it and the celebrations which follow. Later on, as Jake expands his little fishing business and eventually moves into trading activities, Patty does indeed become a notable member of the Parrog community and raises a family of two boys and two girls.

I had a lot of fun developing the story of Patty and Jake through the Saga, telling the reader about her initial fall from grace, about her steely determination to defeat her tormentor, and about her subsequent rehabilitation. She is a strong character and a steadfast friend to Martha, and all good stories need characters like her.

Martha at her desk........

I found this charming illustration on Twitter some years ago.  Can't quite read the artist's name.  Anyway, it will fit the bill as an illustration of Martha at work, at her desk, scribbling away in her diary..........

A Character a Day: (4) Bessie Walter, Lady's Maid

Bessie Walter, lady’s maid

(Spoiler alert -- don't read this if you don't want to know what happened.....)

Bessie is one of the key characters in the story of Martha and Plas Ingli. She is at the Plas when Martha arrives in 1796, and she is still there when Martha goes (apparently) to her grave in 1855. She was born Bessie Gruffydd in 1776, and starts at the Plas in 1795. Later, after the adventures recounted in On Angel Mountain, Bessie leaves to marry the merchant Benji Walter in 1799. She then experiences tragedy after only three years of happiness, when she loses both her husband and small son in the year 1802. She comes back to the Plas as Martha’s special servant, and is in that position position when David is murdered and during the period in which Martha has to survive as a young widow with a growing family, and at the same time must learn how to run the estate single-handed. 

So Martha’s relationship with Bessie is forged in the fire, and becomes virtually unbreakable. At this time, when Bessie is in her prime, I picture her as very pretty and petite, with a strength born of hard labour in kitchen and harvest field. There are many men who desire her, and Dai Darjeeling remains madly in love with her for many years. She enjoys his attentions, and probably, away from the pages of the book, enjoys an interesting sex life when Mistress Martha is otherwise occupied. As the children grow older Bessie takes over as housekeeper in the year 1812. From that point on she becomes a fierce and efficient successor to the formidable Mrs Owen who was housekeeper when the Saga began.

It is to Bessie that Martha entrusts the last of her diaries, which are then found among her possessions long after her "apparent" death at the age of 81. That is entirely appropriate, because the relationship between Bessie and Martha is in some ways more intimate than that between a wife and a husband. A lady’s maid at the time of the stories would have spent a good part of every day in her company. She would have brushed her hair, laid out her clothes, scrubbed her back in the tin bath, made her bed, lit her fire every morning, emptied her chamber pot, and disposed of bloody rags at the times of her peri- ods. She would have been with her in episodes of childbirth and times of grief. 

Little wonder then that Bessie should be more of a friend than a servant almost from the beginning of the stories. She hardly ever over-steps the mark, and she always shows due respect to her mistress, and a good deal of discretion; but she knows Martha almost too well, and is occasionally so impertinent that she risks in- stant dismissal. She knows Martha will not dismiss her whatever she may do or say, because she is absolutely invaluable; in any case, she is Martha’s conscience.

When Liza takes over as Martha’s personal maid, the two women never develop quite the same sort of relationship, partly because Liza has a husband and a life outside the Plas. So even when Bessie is housekeeper, she and Martha remain the closest of friends, and Bessie is normally that person whose duty it is to take Martha to one side and to tell her that she is behaving selfishly or unkindly to- wards other people. At times she is brutally honest, and at times even cruel, but because Martha loves her so much she is prepared to accept criticism from her in a manner that she would never accept from anyone else. The only other woman who has the temerity to admonish Martha occasionally is Grandma Jane in the early part of the Saga, but she speaks to Martha more as a mother would speak to a child, and that relationship has nothing like the same intimacy as that between Martha and Bessie.