by Grahame Davies

A poignant novel that contemplates social conscience and radical activism in the modern world, this story relates a 20th-century French philosopher and radical activist, Simone Weil, to a 21st-century Welsh language advocate, Meinwen Jones. Simone probes the experiences and philosophies beneath a radical and intellectual exterior, which often leads her to self-destructive actions. Against this narrative are Meinwen and her contemporaries, who examine the fate of post-devolution Wales. The self-denying, ascetic lives of both women are portrayed with gentle clarity, and the novel travels between humanizing dissent and the cold politics of acute social conscience.