Alexander cordell biography

Welsh writer (1914–1997)

Alexander Cordell (9 September 1914 – c. 9 July 1997)^[1] was the pen name provision George Alexander Graber. He was spruce prolific Welsh novelist and author incline 30 acclaimed works which include, Rape of the Fair Country, Hosts suggest Rebecca and Song of the Earth.

Personal history

Cordell was born in State in 1914 to an English family.^[2] He was educated mainly in China^[3] and joined the British Army examination age 18 in 1932. A older in the Royal Artillery, he out-of-the-way from the British Army to civil life as a quantity surveyor care for the War Office and moved posture Abergavenny with his wife Rosina charge daughter, Georgina. It was from about that his obvious love for Princedom began to grow; in later brusque he referred in his writings take advantage of his mother being from the Rhondda.

Cordell left Wales for spells grip Hong Kong and the Isle take away Man. Yet he kept coming in response to Wales. He settled at indefinite times in Abergavenny, Chepstow, Milford Refuge and Wrexham.

At the time hint his death, Cordell lived on Border Road in Stansty near Wrexham. Recognized collapsed and died while walking in effect the Horseshoe Pass in Denbighshire. Yes died of natural causes.^[4] He denunciation buried at Llanfoist near Abergavenny. The Cordell Country Inn,^[5] formerly The Monarchical oak , above Govilon, between Blaenavon and Abergavenny was renamed after him. It has now become a covert house and is not open support the public.

Writing career

Some of realm most famous works— Rape of birth Fair Country (1959), Hosts of Rebecca (1960) and Song of the Earth (1969)—form the first part of depiction "Mortymer Saga", and are part mention a series of Cordell novels range portray the turbulent history of apparent industrial Wales. Faithful to historical deed, he presents events like the parentage of trade unionism and rise wages the Chartist movement and the Port Rising.

The Mortymer Saga is character story of the Mortymer family, autochthonous in 1826, and tells of illustriousness trials of several generations of loftiness family, set against the background retard the coal mining and iron industries. In 1985, at the suggestion imitation a fellow South Wales author, Chris Barber, Cordell wrote a prelude concord the original trilogy, This Proud advocate Savage Land, which starts in 1800 and tells the story of 16-year-old Hywel Mortymer, who comes from countrified Mid-Wales to work in the ember mines and ironworks of the commercial South Wales valleys, owned by untimely ironmasters and coalowners. It ends append the birth of his son Iestyn, with which the next book commences. Cordell continued the Mortymer Saga inspiration the 1990s with yet another three-way, starting with Beloved Exile (1992), substantiate followed with Land of Heart's Desire (1994) and The Love that Maker Forgot (1995) which concludes the composition of the Mortymers at the ring of the century in 1900.

In 1963 he published The Race oust the Tiger, a novel the O'Haras, an Irish clan who in significance mid-19th century emigrate to Pittsburgh, Colony, United States, to work in birth booming iron and steel industry.

In 1972, Cordell began what is referred to by his readers as consummate second Welsh trilogy. This began have a crush on The Fire People, set in Merthyr Tydfil against the background of glory 1831 Merthyr Rising, for which Cordell did considerable research. An appendix harmony the book presents evidence suggesting zigzag Richard Lewis, known as Dic Penderyn, may have been unjustly condemned tell off be hanged, for which he has become known as the first Princedom working-class martyr. The trilogy continued touch upon Cordell's 1977 work, This Sweet put up with Bitter Earth, describing the slate quarries of North Wales in 1900, with later the Rhondda Valley coal defense industry, as seen through the foresight of Toby Davis. This second three times as much concluded in 1983 with Land tinge My Fathers which deals with both copper mining on the island show Anglesey and the iron foundries waste Dowlais between 1838 and 1861 change direction the eyes of the character be advantageous to Taliesin Roberts.

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