In 1939, Haydn Powell returns to his native Pontypridd as a star for the summer season. It is his dream come true, but is soon soured when he finds his family divided. Haydn seeks consolation with the theater crowd, but is also drawn to Jane, a young waif lodging with his family. But Jane is haunted by poverty and burdened by bitter secrets. Then there is Haydn's childhood sweetheart, Jenny, who is determined to win him back. She tries to make him jealous by flirting with his brother, the hot-headed boxer Eddie. But it is Jenny's reckless pursuit of her own ends that creates a dangerous tension in a town already braced for war.
CATRIN COLLIER/KATHERINE JOHN/CARO FRENCH/KATHERINE HARDY -
My most bemused moment. When someone commented, "It will be wonderful for Pontypridd when you die." (Many of my novels are set in the town)
My best "putting in place moment". When someone joined a queue at a signing session in Waterstones and waited ten minutes to say, "I don't want a book, love, but as you're here for two hours, look after my shopping for me." - I did.
My proudest moment, when I discovered my Catrin Collier novel, One Last Summer, based on my Prussian born mother's wartime diaries was named recommended reading for adults by the Holocaust Day Memorial Trust.
My new novel, Bobby's Girl, set in America during in 1968 - the era of the anti-Vietnam War and, Civil Rights movements and student protests will be published in the autumn of 2011.
