Outside the House of Baal

1963. Over the course of a single morning, J.T. Miles looks back over seventy years of his lifetime. His country has changed from a rural, religious, Welsh-speaking society where heaven is achieved through living a “good life,” to a place like so many others, where technology is making “heaven on earth” possible. A preacher, J.T. has tried to live a good life. He opposed the Great War and spoke out against much wrongdoing, as his Christian duty, when perhaps he should have shown more understanding. His confusion and sense of failure is compounded by the presence of his sister-in-law Kate, who shares his house and who at one time he might have married. Instead he had chosen Lydia, free-spirited and strong-willed. In this classic novel, Emyr Humphreys explores the splendours and miseries of the Welsh experience.

Emyr Humphreys is one of the foremost Welsh novelists writing in English. He is the author of over twenty novels, of short story volumes, verse and non-fiction work, and was described by the poet R.S. Thomas as “the supreme interpreter of Welsh life.” His most recent work is The Woman at the Window (Seren, 2009).