How Green Was My Valley

How Green Was My Valley
First edition cover
AuthorRichard Llewellyn
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical fiction
PublisherMichael Joseph
Publication date
1939
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages651
OCLC299207
Followed byUp, into the Singing Mountain (1960) 

How Green Was My Valley is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, narrated by Huw Morgan, the main character, about his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed that he based the book on his own experiences, but this was found after his death to be untrue; Llewellyn was English-born and spent little time in Wales, though he was of Welsh descent.[1] Llewellyn gathered material for the novel from conversations with local mining families in the village of Gilfach Goch, in southeast Wales.[1]

In the United States, Llewellyn won the National Book Award for favourite novel of 1940, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association.[2]

  1. ^ a b "Richard Llewellyn". BBC Wales. 28 November 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  2. ^ "Books and Authors", The New York Times, 16 February 1941, page BR12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007).