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.

A character a day (3): Joseph Harries the Wizard

One of the pages from the Big Book of wizard John Harries (no relation) bearing instructions for a "conjuration".  It's a miracle that some pages from this volume have survived -- they are kept in the National Library of Wales.

Joseph Harries the Wizard

(Spoiler alert:  the following gives information which new readers may prefer not to know.....)

Joseph Harries of Werndew is one of the key characters in the story. He was born in 1761 and died in 1826 at the age of 65. In Martha’s time, wizards (or “knowing men”) were greatly respected. Joseph Harries really did exist -- there are a number of folk tales about him. In reality, it seems that he might not have been a very nice fellow! And he did live at Werndew, just above the village of Dinas on the north side of the mountain ridge. The cottage was, and still is, within walking distance of Carningli and Plas Ingli. 

But in my mind, and in the stories, Joseph is a herbalist, mystic, apothecary, surgeon, psychiatrist, sleuth, diplomat, counsellor and master of the arts of observation and deduction. He is a scientist, as well as being a man of culture. He knows several foreign languages and is familiar with many of the esoteric books on which the world’s great religions are based. On occasion he retreats into his cottage before emerging, exhausted, with answers to very complicated questions; but there is always the possibility that he is a “charlatan” with a superior intellect and an ability to observe things and make deductions in the manner of a prototype Sherlock Holmes. Whether or not he is familiar with the denizens of the spirit world, he certainly does have a vast range of abilities, acquired during years of careful study under a variety of great teachers, whom he mentions every now and then. We cannot doubt that in some way he is the inheritor of the wisdom of the Druids, who were reputed to be active in this area at the time of the Roman invasion and who might have had a grove in Tycanol Wood.

Joseph is a stout and loyal friend to Martha, and a friend to many others as well. Sometimes he charges for his services, or over-charges in certain cases, on the basis that his services provided to the poor are generally free. So as well as being a Sherlock Holmes, he is also a Robin Hood figure, loved by the poor and hated by at least some of the rich. He is also Martha’s knight in shining armour, who rides to her defence from his place across the mountain whenever he senses that she is in distress or in danger.

But while Joseph is always good humoured, eccentric, witty and supportive of others, he is also a tragic figure. As the stories unfold he reveals very little about himself and his family background, for as he explains to Martha, it is in his own interests to maintain an air of mystery about who he is, where he has come from, and where he will go to when his task on earth is done. But in one sensitive moment he admits to Martha that he was once married and that he lost his wife and child in childbirth. He dies after a horrible accident, gored by a bull during the course of a routine visit requested by one of the estates. There is irony as well as tragedy in that, since Joseph says many times that he enjoys working with animals. 

He loves Martha from the the very beginning of the stories. This might be suspected by the reader, but Martha never realizes it until Joseph confesses it to her when he is on his death-bed. Even then he can try to make light of it, and when he has gone to his grave Martha finds the situation very difficult to bear, blaming him for his foolishness in allowing his emotions to get the better of him, and blaming herself for her blindness as to the reality of the situation.

Joseph knows, from the beginning of their relationship, that his love for Martha will never be requited, because she is a member of the gentry and he is a disreputable wizard with nothing but a small cottage and a pretty garden to his name. In any case, he is almost old enough to be her father. So he loves and worships her from a distance, gaining comfort from their close and easy relationship, and some physical pleasure from their frequent embraces.

He is quite a mysterious figure, and by all accounts he has a little fan club all of his own!

A character a day (2): Moses Lloyd, psychopath

Welsh actor Dylan Dwyfor, who would fit the bill very well as Moses.......

Moses Lloyd

(Spoiler alert:  if you don't want to spoil your enjoyment of the first novel, read no further.....)

Moses Lloyd, the villain of On Angel Mountain, is the disinherited third son of the old Squire of Cwmgloyn. He has a very murky past, which is gradually revealed as the story unfolds. He has a gigantic grudge against the world in general, and against the Morgan family in particular. He has upset his father and alienated his own brothers, but he refuses to admit to his own shortcomings and blames Martha and her family for his own miserable station in life. He feels that he has gentry blood in his veins and that he therefore deserves respect from those around him whom he considers to be inferior. They give him no respect, apart from the respect which is accorded to all of the servants at the Plas who know their jobs and who work hard, and as time passes his resentment grows deeper and darker.

He has committed truly sickening crimes against the Morgan family, and before the story starts he has already killed six people. He lives in a state of denial regarding all of his crimes, considering that the Plas Ingli fortune is rightly his, and that murder and arson are somehow justifiable as part of his strategy to take possession of it. He stays at the Plas only because he is quite determined to drive the family away from the house and to dig up the treasure which he has buried in the ground. He has a hatred of hard work and an in- stinct for a life of debauchery, and although he despises the labour- ing class he is happy enough to drink with those who belong to it and to be involved in petty crime in the disreputable taverns of Newport.

He is probably mad even at the very beginning of the story, but he is not unattractive, and at first Martha is quite intrigued by him. He has striking eyes and strong features, and a bronzed and fit body. He is also well educated and well spoken. He is attractive to women, and he knows it. He believes that he is much more hand- some and more cultured than David, Martha’s husband, and there- fore expects that it will not be too difficult to prise her away from the man to whom she is married. His problem, and indeed his tragedy, is that he then falls in love with Martha and becomes obsessed with the idea of possessing her. When she rejects him, and ultimately humiliates him in front of all of the inhabitants of the Plas, he flees, cursing the family that has given him shelter and work, and swear- ing that he will have his revenge. He also swears to himself that he will possess Martha, if necessary by force. With insane logic he also decides that he must cut Martha’s face in order to destroy her beauty and thus destroy the source of her power over him.

Moses may or may not know that Martha has worked out for herself the extent of his evil, and he certainly underestimates the strength of her character. He cannot tear himself away from the Plas, and so he stays in the vicinity, living on and off in Martha’s cave while he awaits an opportunity to fulfill his appalling ambition. The final scene of On Angel Mountain was a very difficult one to write, because I had to portray a pregnant woman in extreme danger and a man who is brutal and deranged - and who might sound rational but is actually quite mad. The explicit descriptions of the brutal sexual assault in the cave took me a very long time to get right, but on looking back I’m reasonably content with it.

Once Moses has been dumped into the cleft in the rocks by an exhausted Martha, he is gone but by no means forgotten, for the ex- perience leaves Martha deeply scarred physically and mentally. She hates Moses for what he has done and what he has tried to do to her, and indeed she admits in her confession that she killed him inten- tionally, that she knows no remorse and seeks no forgiveness. But later her hatred is ameliorated to some degree when she discovers something about his childhood. There is madness in the Lloyd family, and Martha discovers that when Moses was young he was sub- jected to extreme cruelty by his father, and had expectations dumped upon him which he could not possibly fulfill. Whether a childhood destroyed by abuse is sufficient to excuse the villain’s abominable behaviour is down to the reader to decide.