Sibu Tales : How Green WAS My Valley

Reading was a very important class activity. Our English teachers would introduce books to us to read. Sometimes they would bring the books to the class, or sometimes they would just recommend us the titles and we would go to the library to borrow.

One day, our class was introduced to a book called "How Green is My Valley" by Richard Llewellyn and we did not realise that the book was written in 1939. The book was a little worn out when we took the book out. But it did not matter. The reading campaign was on and we wanted to know about the UK.

Most of the girls were better readers and I suppose the boys were not interested. Our top girl borrowed the book and confirmed that it was a really good book. So by word of mouth, most of the girls read the book. 

In those days we did not have TV to distract us. We had the radio which we did not often tune on. We did not have handphones to send text and we wrote proper letters to penpals.

When it was my turn to read the book I read and re read many parts of the book. I think I grew up a little more after reading to book.

And on top of that I started to think that it would be nice to visit Wales.

The novel is set in South Wales during the reign of Queen Victoria. It tells the story of the Morgans, a respectable mining family of the South Wales Valleys, through the eyes of one of the sons, Huw Morgan.

Huw's academic ability sets him apart from his elder brothers and enables him to consider a future away from the dangerous coal mines. His five brothers and his father are miners. After his eldest brother, Ivor, is killed in a mining accident, Huw moves in with his sister-in-law, Bronwen, with whom he has always been in love.

One of Huw's three sisters, Angharad, marries the wealthy mine owner's son – whom she does not love – and the marriage is an unhappy one. She never overcomes her clandestine relationship with the local minister.

Huw's father is later killed in a mine explosion. After everyone Huw has known either dies or moves away, and the town is reduced to a contaminated shell, he decides to leave, and tells the story of his life just before going away.

How Green Was My Valley is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, telling the story through narration of the main character, of his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live.