#Domevember ‘None So Blind’ by Alis Hawkins

About the book…

‘Beautifully written, cunningly plotted, with one of the most interesting central characters.’ E.S. Thomson

West Wales, 1850.
When an old tree root is dug up, the remains of a young woman are found. Harry Probert-Lloyd, a young barrister forced home from London by encroaching blindness, has been dreading this discovery.

He knows exactly whose bones they are.

Working with his clerk, John Davies, Harry is determined to expose the guilty, but the investigation turns up more questions than answers.

The search for the truth will prove costly. Will Harry and John be the ones to pay the highest price?

‘None So Blind’ by Alis Hawkins is available from Dome Press in paperback for half price whilst stocks last! With free p+p this is a too good to miss offer so go get it!

In this, the Teifi Valley Coroner series opener, we are introduced to early to mid nineteenth century Welsh culture, politics and society. For those who may be put off reading an historical novel, I would absolutely recommend trying Alis’ work as it breathes a modern sensibility into a tale as old as time-the worthiness and cost of a life.

That the bones found under a tree are a womans, and a pregnant one at that who had been missing for years shows the isolation of the rural communities at the time-she literally vanished and no one ever really looked for her. The only one who remembered her was Harry (really he is Henry Probert-Lloyd or ‘P-L’ to his friend Gus, Henry when he is being called by his father, the actual coroner).

Harry is the driving force behind demanding an inquest, the person whose land she was found on bows to the pressure of Harry’s father and agrees to one on the condition that Harry does not further embarass the family by testifying . The gap between rich and poor, powerful and poweless is truly a modern theme as Harry straddles both sides being the son of a person with a title as well as a trainee lawyer who has returned from London due to his failing eyesight.

Very few people know about this being the reason he has come home, not even his father but in a neat nod to the title, his father is so blinkered that he does not notice what Harry’s friends do with regards to his eyes. This is particularly exposed in a scene between Harry and his father regarding the redrafting of the Poor Law wherein families were to be seperated by sex and ability to work in poorhouses. As Harry argues that it is against their human rights and strips them of their dignity, his father is completely perplexed by the lack of logic in Harry’s argument,. Surely, to his mind at least, this is preferrable to starving ? It was akin to explaining poverty as a lived experience rather than a concept to a Tory politician,His remoteness and detachment from the lives of common or garden folkserves to emphasise his son, Harry’s love for his fellow man and his need to see justice done.

He was the ‘first on the scene’ in his father;s absence and his determination to bring justice to the woman whose bones were unearthed is what bonds the reader to him, set against the background of the Rebecca Riots which is a fascinating part of Welsh history.I had totally forgotten about reading Alexander Cordell’s books on the subject and it was extremely satsifying reading a book by a Welsh author, set in Wales which is bringing Welsh history to a wider audience.

Universal themes such as love, loss, grief and social standing allied with political and cultural influences are timeless , and I would 100% recommend this book to anyone who loves gripping fiction with a basis in historical fact, served by well rounded and grounded characters.

Very much looking forward to reading ‘In Two Minds‘, the sequel to ‘None So Blind’ and hopeful for more books featuring Harry and his friends.

About the author…

Alis Hawkins grew up on a dairy farm in Cardiganshire. After attending the local village primary school and Cardigan County Secondary school, she left West Wales to read English at Oxford.

Subsequently, she has has done various things with her life, including becoming a speech and language therapist, bringing up two sons, selling burgers, working with homeless people, and helping families to understand their autistic children.

And writing. Always. Nonfiction (autism related), plays (commissioned by heritage projects) and, of course, novels.
Alis’s first novel, ‘Testament’, was published in 2008 by Macmillan and was translated into several
languages. (It has recently been acquired for reissue, along with her medieval trilogy of psychological
thrillers by Sapere Books).
Her current historical crime series featuring blind investigator Harry Probert-Lloyd and his chippy
assistant, John Davies, is set in Cardiganshire in the period immediately after the Rebecca Riots. As a sideeffect of setting her series there, instead of making research trips to sunny climes like more foresighted writers, she just drives up the M4 to see her family.
Now living with her partner on the wrong side of the Welsh/English border (though she sneaks back over to work for the National Autistic Society in Monmouthshire) Alis speaks Welsh, collects rucksacks and can’t resist an interesting fact.

Links-https://alishawkins.co.uk/

Extract from sequel ‘In Two Minds’-Alis http://79.170.40.167/rachelreadit.co.uk/bookextract-in-two-minds-by-alis-hawkins/