How Green Was My Valley is a popular historical novel written by the British author Richard Llewellyn. It was published in 1939. How Green Was My Valley is a moving account of the lives of coal miners in southern Wales during the late 1800’s. Llewellyn’s parents were both Welsh. The novel gained praise for the richness of its English prose that captured the rhythms of the lyrical Welsh language.
The novel is narrated by Huw Morgan, the youngest child of Gwilym and Beth Morgan. Huw describes the triumphs and tragedies of his poor but proud family over the decades as the men attempt to earn a hard living as coal miners. Huw portrays the culture of the mining community and the closeness of his family. He explores how their world darkened with time as the coal industry changed, destroying the beauty of his village and the surrounding landscape.
By the end of the novel, everyone close to Huw has either died or moved away. Huw tells his story as he prepares to leave his village to start a new life. Llewellyn wrote three sequels that trace Huw’s later life, Up, Into the Singing Mountain (1960), Down Where the Moon Is Small (1966), and Green, Green My Valley Now (1975).
How Green Was My Valley was adapted into a widely praised motion picture directed by John Ford that won the 1941 Academy Award as best picture. Ford also won the 1941 Academy Award as best director for his work on the film.
