I‘ll Be The Brightest Star…
The
genesis
of
this
novel
is
research
my
wife
and
I
did
in
preparation
of
the
family
memoir
I
mentioned
on
the
first
page.
Unfortunately
when
I
was
researching
my
father’s
family
history
I
found
that,
due
to
a
messy
divorce,
nobody
wanted
to
talk
about
that part of my heritage.
After
my
parents
were
both
dead
I
decided
to
assemble
the
few
strands
of
information
I’d
been
able
to
discover
and
use
these
as
the
framework
for
a
novel
to
tell
my
father’s
early
story.
Writing
it
was,
of
course,
a
pleasure
but
a
challenge
too
for
I
had
to
temper
the
fictional
parts
to
fit
the
actuality
of
the
framework.
As
well
as
a
family
history
this
is
also
the
story
of
South
Wales
as
it
changed
from
a
rural,
agricultural
economy
to
become
the
powerhouse
of
the
Industrial
Revolution based on the coal lying beneath its fields.
Within
my
family
are
represented
the
range
of
views
and
reactions
to
these
changes.
Some
history
lies
in
the
census
returns,
but
as
I
researched
the
story
I
discovered
that
in
Wales
even
census
returns
are
unreliable.
With
that
caveat
I
was
able
to
trace
this
part
of
my
family
history
back
to
the
early
1800s
when
one
of
my
ancestors
was
probably
an
unmarried
mother.
Much
of
the
story
durring
the
19th
century
is
fiction
though
based
accuratelt
in
geographical
terms.
That
enables
me
to
write
with
some
certainty
about
the
family
leaving
the
countryside
of
Carmarthenshire
and
struggling
to
earn
a
living
from
farming
and
moving
to
Dowlais,
now
part
of
Merthyr
Tydfil,
and
earning
good
money
in
the
coal
mines
and
in
the
iron
and
steel
mill.
In
Dowlais
my
grandfather,
already
an
alcoholic,
compounded
his
problem
by
buying
a
pub.
He
had
six children, four sons and two daughters.
His
oldest
son,
unable
to
find
farm
work
and
also
unwilling
to
go
down
the
mine,
abandoned
his
new wife and their infant son and emigrated to New Zealand.
His
next
oldest
son
borrowed
the
fare
to
emigrate
to
Cleveland
from
his
mother,
promising
to
pay
it
back
as
soon
as
he
found
work.
The
pub
business
was
mortgaged
and,
true
to
his
promise,
he
began
to
repay
the
loan.
He
also
married
and
looked
forward
to
a
rosy,
successful
future
until
he
contracted
TB
and
died.
His
family
in
Wales
couldn’t
service
the
mortgage
on
the
pub
and
the
lender foreclosed on the business.
After
two
voyages
to
South
America,
the
third
son
(my
father)
joined
the
army
to
get
an
education.
During
his
second
tour
of
duty
he
married
the
daughter
of
a
London
publican.
At
the
request of his new wife he took a clerical job in a solicitor’s office.
His
two
sisters
married
in
South
Wales
and
experienced
the
depression
and
WW2
at
first
hand.
Finally
the
youngest
son
succumbed
to
the
ill-health
endemic
in
the
Valleys
and
died
aged
just
20.
Despite
the
struggles
the
family
faced
over
almost
200
years,
the
story
is
ultimately
positive
and
uplifting.
