Not Quite White - Simon Thirsk

"The Welsh are blessed in the smallest of ways - by being not quite white"
- Osi Rhys Osmond

I've just googled the author of the quote above & he is described as a practising artist concerned with "integrating myth and modernity", which seems appropriate for this book. The novel is an allegorical love story between "Gwalia" (the ancient name for Wales) and "Jon Bull", the think tank researcher sent from London to present a plan for bringing electricity and running water to her isolated small Welsh town. Bull soon clashes with Dewi, the unsophisticated Welsh nationalist whose devotion to Gwalia outweighs his capacity to understand how to help her recover from the trauma that has affected her, and also with the town leaders determined to preserve their language and way of life whatever the cost. After a while it becomes apparent that Bull represents forward-looking multicultural Britain, and he is eventually able to come up with a successful plan to revive the village by embracing their language and culture and suggesting that they produce a showcase for "Enaid Cymru" - the soul of Wales as embodied in Welsh-speaking communities. The story is told in reminiscences addressed to each other, so the characters are free to interject & interpret events explicitly, such as Jon's conclusion that "it seems so clear now, looking back: the problem wasn't that you & I came from different backgrounds but that we had different ideologies. I wanted the world to leave its history & cultural baggage behind and start afresh, free of all past bitterness, resentment and distrust. You seemed destined only to drown yourself in yours." The book does a nice job of illustrating the necessity of finding a balance between looking to the past and looking to the future, and shows how something valuable can be created when two people are influenced and changed by each other.