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Best-selling novelist Iris Gower has died aged 75

The best-selling novelist Iris Gower, who wrote more than 30 historical novels centred on her home city of Swansea, has died aged 75.

Iris, who was born in Mumbles, wove her stories around the historical past and a growing Welsh Culture, making the hard facts of the working lives of her characters into tales of passion and pain, defeat and triumphant success. She wrote over thirty-five bestselling historical novels, received an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Wales Swansea in 1999 and was awarded an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cardiff.

Her publications include The Copper Kingdom (Century, 1983), The Oyster Catchers (Bantam, 1992) Daughters of Rebecca (Bantam, 2000) and Bargain Bride (Bantam, 2007).

Iris Gower leaves 4 children and 11 grandchildren. She was once described by a reporter from the Western Mail as "a cross between a sensible grandmother and a feisty heroine".