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Home / Series / The Children of Black Water Valley

Series

The Children of Black Water Valley

The Children of Black Water Valley follows nine young people in the fictional Welsh mining village of Bryn-du between 1878 and 1880. The pit, chapel, terraced streets and extended families shape lives in which childhood responsibilities arrive early and industrial danger is never distant.

Across three novels, migration, secrets, bereavement and demands for justice alter the group and the wider community. The trilogy treats the coalfield as a domestic and social world rather than only an industrial setting.

Reading order

Books in this series (3 books)

Sunlight and Shadows cover

#2 – Sunlight and Shadows

K. M. Ashman

In 1879 the children of Bryn-du begin to move along different paths. Some remain tied to the pit and the terraced streets, while others travel far enough to see alternatives that make returning home more difficult. Letters, family secrets and discoveries in ordinary places alter relationships…

Darkness and Daffodils cover

#3 – Darkness and Daffodils

K. M. Ashman

In 1880 fresh graves and lost wages show how long the consequences of disaster remain after public mourning has ended. Families in Bryn-du attempt to rebuild while unanswered questions threaten the settlement they have made with grief. Some characters return carrying burdens formed elsewhere, while others…