A Welsh Childhood (Transaction Large Print Books) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Alice Thomas Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1991 | Series: Transaction Large Print Books

The affectionate memoir of Alice Thomas Ellis's childhood in North Wales, and later his life there with her own children.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These two memoirs celebrate the magic of growing up in small villages in the British Isles during the 1930s and 1940s. For Walsh, it was a time of contentment in a closely knit Irish farming community where "luxury was a full stomach and being clothed." Her reminiscences of odd neighbors, local customs, holy days, and school are interspersed with folklore and ghost stories. She looks back at her childhood with fondness and delight. Novelist Ellis's (Serpent on the Rock, LJ 10/1/95) nostalgia, on the other hand, is filled with melancholy, not only a yearning for what is gone but also a sorrow for what has changed. Her portrayal of the unspoiled beauty of the North Wales coast contrasts sharply with her depiction of its present-day ugliness, a condition brought about by tourism and suburbia. Along with details from her childhood, Ellis presents legends, myths, historical facts, and memories of raising her own children in an isolated wilderness area. Her scenic descriptions are enhanced by an abundance of evocative black-and-white photographs of the Welsh landscape. Though their moods are quite different, both books are well written and suitable for regional collections.?Ilse Heidmann, San Marcos, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Scientific American

A Welsh Childhood is strengthened by photographs, large and handsome: they celebrate the misty greyness and wetness of rural Wales, small, ruined houses in vast, luminous landscapes. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: Isis Large Print Books (October 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1850895368
• ISBN-13: 978-1850895367
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,149,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Idiosyncratic meanderings about a long ago Welsh childhood., December 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Welsh Childhood (Hardcover)

Perhaps not for all tastes this autobiographical series of set pieces is wonderfully reminiscent of life in small country areas not all so long ago. There is a sense of time lost folded into the scattered vignettes. I would suggest that it would be particualarly appealing to those of Welsh ancestry and/or those who have lived in small American towns. The photographs are very much in synthesis with the stories and point up the sense of enjoyable loss.