Toronto born but Rhondda raised, Bethan Darwin studied law at King's College London and was a partner in a law firm in the City of London for some years before homesickness got the better of her and she returned to Wales. Bethan is now a solicitor and partner at a Cardiff law firm. She also runs women's networking group Superwoman, writes a bi-weekly column for the Western Mail and is a regular contributor on BBC Wales.
Gareth Maddox is full of good humour and energy as he changes his baby sons soggy nappy, gives him his milk and straps him into his pushchair, puts the dog on a lead and off they go for a run (and a secret fag for Gareth), all before 7 am. His life is one of gentle chaos at home with the four kids and his beautiful, fellow-lawyer wife, and concentrated, focused, high-achieving work at his own successful law firm in Cardiff. What more could a man want? But perhaps we dont know whats missing from our lives until it presents itself. When Canadian businesswoman, Cassandra Taylor, seeks out Gareth to oversee the setting-up of a factory in the Welsh valley Gareth grew up in, there suddenly seems to be a great void in his life that needs filling. Running parallel to this narrative is the story of Gareths great-great-uncle Idris, who left the Rhondda at the bitter end of the General Strike in 1926 to start a new life in Canada, also leaving behind the complications of being in love with his twin brothers wife. In stark contrast to all that Gareth takes for granted in his life of comfort and luxurious plenty, Idris survives in a world of uncertainty and hardship and he is one of the lucky ones who find work and lodgings. This far-reaching novel gives us a vivid picture of the period when thousands of migrants poured into Canada men and women willing to leave everything behind them to take a chance on a better life. Idris meets Jean on the crossing; shes only fourteen, her parents are dead, shes travelling with her younger sister Janet, and shes full of hope. She is one of the thousands of British Home Children: orphans and children from destitute families sent to find a better life in an under-populated colony. Believing she would be joining a welcoming family with her younger sister, Jean is unaware of the hardship and virtual slavery that met so many of these Home Children. And in the life that awaits her in Canada, Idris is the only one who can help her. Thicker than Water is deeply enriched by this parallel narrative in which the assumptions of modern middle-class daily luxury are sharply defined by contrast with the precariousness of life in depression-bound Canada. And the present-day women in the novel have stepped so far beyond the timid dependency of Jeans existence: they can walk away from the men who disappoint them. Underlying the two arenas of the novel is the unexpected link between Cassandra Taylor and Gareths ancestors in Canada, and the revelations which pull and twist the present day with the consequences of events long past. Although the word-by-word conversations sometimes slow the natural pace of the novel, Thicker Than Water is well written. The characters are rounded and Gareths four children are beguiling in their alternately endearing and repelling qualities, and the sense of time and place is persuasively portrayed. Lucy Walter It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. -- Welsh Books Council
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