Jac in Bloomington, MN

Set in Gilfach Goch, a coal mining valley in south Wales, during the Second World War, this is a novel about first friendships among boys from the perspective of the youngest and smallest, Jac. Describing the escapades that this group of boys get up to – the mischief and the places that they explore, mostly on or over the mountains that rise above the three working collieries, the tips of waste and the terraces either side of the coal-dust laden stream – it paints a picture of growing up during the fraught and challenging times of the wartime years.