Enoc Huws by Daniel Owen

Claud Vivian’s 1896 translation of the Welsh-language novel by Daniel Owen, with an afterword by Rob Mimpriss.

Captain Richard Trevor is manager of the Pwllygwynt lead mine, and one of the largest employers in his community. But the lead mine has failed to produce any lead, and as his investors begin to move away, Captain Trevor knows that the only way to keep his pious yet dishonest wife and his clever yet frivolous daughter in comfort is to open a new lead mine, as devoid of prospects as the last. Unable to raise the capital he needs, he turns to Enoc Huws, the timid, otherworldly owner of the local grocer’s shop, who lives in fear of his gold-digging housekeeper and is already hopelessly in love with the Captain’s daughter.

With its charming rogues, its comic antiheroes, and its rich cast of female characters, Enoc Huws is both a page-turner in its own right, and Daniel Owen’s lighter sequel to his masterpiece, Rhys Lewis. Twice adapted for television, and perennially popular in Welsh, this novel now follows Rhys Lewis into republication by Cockatrice Books.