One Moonlit Night: The unmissable new novel from the million-copy Sunday Times bestselling author of A Beautiful Spy

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John Yorke takes a look at Caradog Prichard's ground-breaking novel, One Moonlit Night. First published in Welsh in 1961, it broke new ground for its portrayal of taboo subjects such as sexuality, suicide and mental illness. Thirty four years later it was translated into English by Philip Mitchell who described his first encounter with the material in the original Welsh as 'a mind-blowing, life-changing, world-shaking experience akin to being allowed for several hours to stare into the face of God.'

By Paula Bardell-Hedley on 06/03/2020• ( 19 ) A brief introduction and a few shared thoughts on chapters 1-4 Dew, I heard the sound of Bob Cuenant’s fist like a Salvation Army Band drum hitting Owen Llan in the chest.” Although One Moonlit Night is set during WW2, we only see what life was like in an isolated country community, far away from the dangers in the city. The story is told from the point of view of Maddie, along with chapters narrated by Philip telling how he is trying to find a way home. It is a perilous journey and we can only hope he will survive long enough to safely return. Interspersed with Maddie’s story are chapters featuring Philip in a timeline roughly a year before Maddie leaves London, following the incident which left him missing in action but believed dead. As he recovers from his injuries, helped by many people risking their own lives to help him, he is forced to head south to make his way out of France to find his way home. There was plenty of tension surrounding him and the risks involved with all of his actions, to the point that I found myself willing him to make it home, and it felt like the perfect foil for the secrets and mysteries that Maddie was dealing with. I loved the fact that Maddie continued to work as a children’s illustrator after she married and had children, modern beyond her time and with a supportive husband who did not want to prevent her from her art. When she left London, to move to her husband Philip’s family home, it felt poignant given the news reports we’ve had in recent weeks of mothers and children fleeing from their homes with what they were able to salvage, Maddie and her daughters leaving with the few items salvaged from the rubble where their house had stood.

Over this and the following three chapters, we follow the boy as he wanders the dim streets of his home town, sometimes with his best friend Huw, recalling the events of his life with a poetic tenderness. He comes across characters like Grace Ellen Shoe Shop, Frank Bee Hive, Little Will Policeman, Will Starch Collar, Price the School and a multitude of people named after their occupation, idiosyncrasy or some other befitting moniker. Common practice, even today, in parts of Wales. Prichard was born in Bethesda in 1904. It was an almost entirely Welsh-speaking village and owed its existence to the slate-quarrying industry. In 1905, when Prichard was five months old his father was killed in a quarry accident. The portrait in the novel of a mother struggling to survive reflected reality just as its story of a young boy whose life is torn apart by his mother's mental illness reflected his personal history. His mother suffered a breakdown when he was in his teens and in 1923 entered a mental hospital from which she would not emerge. An easy fix would be to give Philip a stake in sleeping with Sophie, other than blue balls. What if he was forced to exchange sexual favors for his safety? Think about it, then a lot of the plot points magically make sense, like him never telling Maddie, and Sophie gets a believable motive-losing her own fiancé makes her mad with grief and want to take away the husband of another, going so far as to let Maddie know years later and pull her down to equal misery. Tragically, Maddie would never know the truth because Philip never told her out of shame, making a point about honesty. One minute, Philip is lying on a pallet in a prison cell in Perpignan, his attempted escape over the Pyrenees to Spain thwarted by the Nazis.

I really like stories set in large ancestral homes in a rural setting. They are always appealing; I find the descriptions of nature restful, there are always plenty of secrets hidden within and scope for strained relations and mysteries at the heart of the household. I honestly don’t read enough historical fiction. I’m not entirely sure why and I can’t off hand remember the last one I read. One Moonlit Night was my first Rachel Hore read I believe even though I do own at least one more of her books, but it won’t be the last. I have a taste for historical fiction now and I’m itching for more. Un Nos Ola Leuad will be the first Welsh language opera ever broadcast on British TV and is a brilliant example of the kind of distinctive public service programming that a purpose-driven publicly owned Channel 4 can deliver.” But the more serious issue is the way in which the novel begins. The framing device completely destroys the tension of Grace’s disappearance towards the end of the novel. Maddie does not believe that Philip is dead and feels a little closer to him at Knyghton. However, Maddie soon discovers the reasons why Philip didn’t talk about his childhood. His cousin Lyle appears very cold when speaking of Philip and nobody will answer Maddie’s questions about the mysterious girl called Flora.

Podcast

Over this and the following chapters, we follow the boy as he wanders the dim streets of his home town, sometimes with his best friend Huw, recalling the events of his life with a poetic tenderness. He comes across characters like Grace Ellen Shoe Shop, Frank Bee Hive, Little Will Policeman, Will Starch Collar, Price the School and a multitude of people named after their occupation, idiosyncrasy or some other befitting moniker. Common practice, even today, in parts of Wales.