Romantic Wales

Everyone knows that St Valentine is the patron saint of lovers, but you don't have to wait until 14th February to make a romantic gesture. If you have connections to Wales, or even if you don't, there's a chance for romance on 25th January, which is St Dwynwen's Day.

St Dwynwen is the Welsh equivalent of St Valentine. Her shrine is on the Isle of Anglesey. You can find out more about the saint and the legend on the Visit Wales site, which is HERE

How do you celebrate St Dwywen's Day? Exactly the same way as the more famous St Valentine's Day - cards, flowers, a romantic meal, gifts, maybe even a proposal? 

The Cariad Chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association is marking the day as a celebration of Wales and romance and highlighting romance writers who live in Wales, or have Welsh connections, and/or set their books in Wales. There will be greetings and blog posts. There is romance in the hills and in the valleys and on the coast and these writers are out to prove it. 

The Cariad Chapter - the name means love, but is also used as an endearment, like darling - covers South and West Wales and has members who are still working towards publication as well as those who are multi published in a variety of genres. Published novelists in the chapter cover everything from war time sagas to romantic thrillers, contemporary romantic comedy, sweet romance, M/M romance, historical romance - it's all romance. Some are set in Wales, some in other locations, even imaginary ones. There's something for everyone, whatever their taste in  romantic reading matter, all with a love story and most with a happy ending. 

Watch out on Monday 25th January on social media to see members of the Chapter wishing you  Dydd Santes Dwynwen Hapus - Happy Saint Dwynwen's Day. 

And how about surprising the one you love with a greeting on this special Welsh day?  

It's all in the title.

A few tongue in cheek Welsh titles you might recognise.

The title of the book - that's the thing, along with the cover, that tells you what is likely to be between the covers - and whether you are likely to enjoy reading it. So - the title need to tell you something. It needs those buzz words that register in your brain to make you pick or click. There are a lot of jokes around at the moment about every book having to have the word 'Girl' or the word 'Cupcake' in the title, or maybe both.

But in our time-starved lives, buzz words can be a great help.

On the romance side, the current vogue for books set in places that can be thought of as comforting is clear in titles that use words like 'little' and 'cosy' and are set in bookshops, tea-shops, cafes, guest houses and beach huts. Summer, beach and sunshine are up there too. Maybe we're all looking for something small and familiar in a turbulent world? A while ago the fashion was for historic mansions and gardens, usually in need to renovations, but we seem to have downsized a bit lately.

On the thriller side, 'secrets' and 'lies' are very current - but then, secrets never go out of fashion. And, of course, those words that conjure atmosphere, like 'dark', 'silent', 'dying', 'evil', 'scream'. You know that you might be sleeping with the light on if you chose one of those.

I'm a sucker for titles with destinations in them, but they have to be sunny and what I consider to be glamorous. Antarctica probably wouldn't do it for me. Mysterious would - I enjoy Elly Griffiths' books set in the Fens, with more than a touch of the spooky about them, and I am incubating a few set in my native Wales that I hope will draw on some of the folklore and supernatural elements that are part of the Welsh landscape. Land of Legends is the theme chosen for this year by Visit Wales and there are a couple of links at the bottom of the post that you might like to explore.

And don't get me started on TRAINS. They are becoming an addiction. Anything with Orient Express in the title gets me, and the classic mysteries that are set on trains, and I have just finished Andrew Martin's Night Trains, non fiction, and sub titled 'The rise and fall of the sleeper', in which he attempts to re-create some of the famous night train journeys of the past, with varying degrees of success. I really enjoyed it. I've never traveled on a sleeper. It's on the bucket list.

And I just remembered that what I hope will be the Christmas novella has an opening scene involving a train. And it's set in the Brecon Beacons.

I think I've wandered a bit from my start point of titles. My preoccupations are showing as I need to make a start on editing and tidying up that novella if it's going to get submitted for a chance at the Christmas list.

And of course, it will need a good title.


Visit Wales - Land of Legends
Literature Wales - Interactive map