Press Reviews

"It is a pleasure to write a review of this publication. Nathan Hughes, who was born and brought up near Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, South Wales, lived in that area until he joined the Royal Navy in 1942. Born an orphan, Nathan resided with his grandmother and with his aunt Sue and uncle Tom, and assisted in the family milk business while attending school. The author tells us that his major intention was to tell his children and grand-children what it was like to grow up in Wales during the 1920's, 1930's, and early 1940's. By publishing his memoirs, he makes it available to other interested parties. This reviewer, who was born only one year later, was very pleased to read this book, partly because life in rural Wales and small town America shared many fascinating similarities and differences.

A further beneficial side-effect of the book for those interested in learning the Welsh language, is the fact that Hughes spoke Welsh during his youth and the book contains liberal use of Welsh words and phrases. Besides words in Welsh, there are very frequent references to objects and customs found in Wales and England at that time and much less so, if not at all, in America. How many of them are familiar to those of you born in Wales at about the same time? Are any of terms used in the first 75 pages of the book familiar to those brought up in America or Canada? Most people interested in Wales, both here and in Wales itself who lived at the same general time-frame would derive great enjoyment from reading this book. It would make a perfect Christmas present for many readers of Ninnau." Ninnau , Oct.1998

"Firstly, I'd like to say that I found this a fascinating and absorbing account of life in the Thirties and the early Forties. I was particularly interested because, although I grew up in semi-rural south east Wales a decade and a half later, your account of material conditions in the house and more generally in society at large mirrors more or less exactly my own experience as a child. What impresses me about your memoir, however, is the range and extent of detail it contains, which brought elements of my own experience vividly back to me. Clearly as you indicate in your acknowledgements, you have checked your memory against numerous sources; nevertheless you seem to have extraordinary recall of minutia which is part of the pleasure of the memoir, and undoubtedly part of its value as an historical record."Reviewer for Arts Council of Wales

"It is mixture of close detail about a working class life generally in rural Wales (Carmarthenshire) in the 20s and 30s and a highly localized knowledge of places and people. The author seems to have a total recall!" Reviewer for Gomer Press

"Another work from a Welsh-American throwing light on the emerging history of what is now being described as the 'Greater Welsh Nation' - a more appropriate, happy and accurate epithet than 'Diaspora' or 'exiles'. The introduction has been written by Gwynfor Evans, arguably the most influential Welsh politician of this century, and the book serves two purposes. First, it is an in-depth analysis of the social structure of rural south west Wales before the Second World War, and second it is written by a man whose later life has been spent in America and so is written with informed hindsight, a fresh feeling of identity and an urge to record the details, social, cultural and religious, of a vanished age for new generations on both sides of the Atlantic."Cambria, Winter 1998/99

"The author, now of Richardson in Texas has interesting things to say about life in the Penygroes area of Carmarthenshire before WW II. Useful to people living in Wales and people elsewhere (USA etc,), with or without links , who have an interest in Wales. The focus is right; the emphasis is not description of rural way of life rather than an "ego trip" for the writer. Many accounts of rural Welsh life remains in peoples' memories - and survives in village life now. One has to remember, however, that much that remains in living memory and that is familiar today is rapidly becoming unfamiliar and soon will be forgotten. There is a wealth of close detail which serves the archival function of the book although it may be too full for the general reader." Reader's report commissioned by Welsh Book Council.