The Writers of Wales Database

GRIFFITHS, PETER

Welsh speaker Peter Griffiths was born in 1942 in Cynheidre near Llanelli in Carmarthenshire. He was educated at Llandovery collage and Lincoln College, Oxford. He and his family emigrated to Denver, Colerado in 1972, where he worked as an Investment Counsellor. Over the last fifteen years, Peter and his wife Yvonne have gravitated back to Wales. They now share their time between Swansea and Denver. Tongue Tied (Y Lolfa, 2009) is his first novel.

Selected Publications:
Tongue Tied (Y Lolfa, 2009)




Tongue Tied (Y Lolfa, 2009)

It is 1876 when we are first introduced to Elfed Evans and Edwards Jones - Elfed of the Tryweryn Valley and Edward of the Celyn, two childhood friends whose friendship has been forged in the shadow of the inspirational Arenig Fawr. The lives of the two nineteen-year-olds then head in different directions.

Edward decides to leave the beautiful countryside of north Wales in hope of a more secure future in the coal pits of the Rhondda in south Wales, while Elfed chooses to remain in Tryweryn to farm his father’s land. The two friends never meet again, but they are forever bound by an act of camaraderie, a symbol of their deep friendship, the consequences of which will be felt by their families.

Tongue Tied allows us to witness Welsh family life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, from the perspective of the farm and the coal pit, as we follow the lives and struggles of the Evans and Jones families. This is a powerful story that explores relationships, religion, language and identity - and how all these things can , ultimately, tear families apart.

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