Capture On The Red Hill Translated By Mike Parker Disseminated As Paper Copy

has been on my 'to read' pile for months! And I finally got to it, What a treat. A story of finding home and family in rural Wales, My partner and I retreated from London on Shropshire not quite Wales but close enough twenty years ago and have likewise found 'the place' we need to be.
Beautifully written and honest I strongly recommend it!
For me, this book was best read slow enough to savor, The story of two gay couples, one older and the other not, forms the basis, Added, layer by layer, are the stories of the neighbors and visitors, the community, the land and the gay history of Wales, Though each chapter is specifically titled e, g. , Autumn, the stories are interweaved throughout, Especially for visitors and replanted Englanders, Wales is a place of refuge and quiet, Slowing down the pace of life, Enjoying the little things. If you approach the book with this in mind, you are in for a unique treat, Shortly after the decriminalisation of homosexuality in, Reg and George moved to deepest rural Wales from Bournemouth, They had a couple of homes before settling into a house that would become a BampB and be their home until, In total, they were together over six decades, the first two of which their relationship was deemed to be illegal by the state, Inthey formally became a couple with a short civil partnership ceremony in the town of Machynlleth, They had two witnesses to this momentous occasion, Peredur and Mike Parker,

Mike Parker was another exile from England having first gone to Wales to write a Rough Guide and realised that he actually quite liked the place.
Discovering his sexuality, Parker had had a large number of flings and very short term relationships in his younger days but arriving in Wales calmed him and it was there that he first met Peredur.
Finding excuses to go and see him in the shop he was working they both realised that they were attracted to each other and both fell in love.


Reg, George, Preds and Mike were to become close friends, hence why the younger guys ended up as witnesses and came to love the house that the older guys owned.
They started to save up with the

intention of purchasing it after they had passed away but in a remarkable turn of events, Reg and George left the property to them in the will.
For the first time, they had some proper financial security and Preds was living in the home that he always dreamed of, They didnt change much, to begin with, but added a swimming pond for bracing dips

After moving in they begun to sort through their home and discovered a rich history of Reg and Georges younger lives through their diaries, letter and personal effects.
This is not just the story of the older and younger guys and their lives, Rather it is a layered and multifaceted memoir of Parker's time growing up, Preds life in a small Welsh town and the way that the community supports each other.
The book is split into the four parts and he writes about the seasons, the four elements of earth, wire, fire and water and about each of them.
Central to all of this though is Rhiw Goch, or the Red Hill, and how it changes every single day with the seasons, the way that kites hang in the air and the thrill of snow cutting them off sometimes, though the thrill of being isolated wears off after a brief period of time.
I had read Parker's previous books on maps and this was recommended to me, I thought this was a really enjoyable book about a new life in Wales coupled with a touch of history, landscape, social history and the natural world of Wales that captivates him every time he steps outside the door.
It is a book full of deep love for the man and the land he now inhabits, Although there are moments of great beauty and insight, unfortunately these are only moments, Ultimately I found this to be quite plodding and unsatisfying,

.rounded up tobecause I imagine its difficult to write any book, let alone a non fiction one! Upon reflection and the comment of another user! I feel brave enough to alter my review!

I did not enjoy this long, plodding book that dragged on! I found some of the characters quite dislikeable and predatory for what their own gains.


A really unenjoyable read to be honest! I read this as it was longlisted for the Wainwright NatureWriting Prize, and also because its midWales hill setting is somewhere I know well.

But I was bowled a doosra and didn't spot it,
This is an overtly personal account of the author and his partner following in the footsteps of their mentors, George Walton and Reg Mickisch.
In, just five years after the decriminalisation of homosexuality, George and Reg opted for the quiet life and settled in a Welshspeaking village in the Montgomeryshire hills, converting an old village pub into a BampB.
It is their story.
Certainly it uses the four seasons, four elements, and four lives as its structure, but the nature writing is sparse, and a link to the Wainwright Prize tenuous at best.


I've read two others from the Longlist so far, Kathleen Jamie, which has its moments, and the excellent The Frayed Atlantic Edge by David Gange.
What a gorgeous read. Poignant. Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize deservedly so, This is a lovely book, really hard to categorise though! It's part gay memoir/history, part the story of a house, part reflection on community and part description of the rhythm of the natural world a summary which probably doesn't do justice to any of the parts.
There is a lot of artistic and poetic inspiration here too, There is a fourfold structure following different themes the four seasons, the four elements, the four men whose stories are told here,
The house, Rhiw Goch, is a traditional Welsh farmhouse in a quiet corner of the Dyfi valley, It has not been a working farm for many years, but it still has some of its original land and outhouses and is relatively unspoilt.
This house was the home of two gay men in the lateth century, and they successfully lived as a couple there for many years, eventually befriended by the author and his partner who now live in the house, having inherited it from the older couple.
The life achieved there sounds idyllic, in tune with its very rural surroundings but a riot of sociability and hospitality too,
I said that this book was hard to slot into any one category, and so it is, as a summary doesn't do justice to the "country" element or indeed to the archival, as the house came packed with the older pair's photographs, letters and diaries, so there's quite a bit of gay social history here too.
Perhaps it is best summed up as the story of finding oneself in both home and landscape, Found this between the Bibles and Christian nonfiction at a Catholic monastery, What a find! Absolutely charming, reflective biography/autobiography of two gay couples, one younger and one older, who found family and home in rural Wales.
Just delightful. This is the third book by Parker that I have read, and the third that I have givento, In the same way as the other books, this is a mixed bag, with good and bad points, The social and political history of homosexuality over many decades was excellent, the not calling out of George, one of main characters, as a lifelong predator and groomer, especially of young boys is unacceptable.
Similarly, the writing on nature is very good, but please, can we not be spared the old cliches about country folk and their love of fox hunting etc I have earned my living off the land all my life and, like many others, believe blood sports are an abomination.
As for the assertion late in the book that farming families occupied their farms for centuries, I suggest the author reads a few books on local history.
I loved this far more than just a memoir and placehistory, there are so many wellobserved and beautifullydocumented insights into myriad things, from gay male history to different kinds of Welshness.
There were things I was uncomfortable with, but they didn't overshadow how much I enjoyed the book, A memoir that explores gay history and the joys of life in country through the eyes of a gay writer who relocated from England to Wales, settling in a cottage, Rhiw Goch.
The highlight for me was the stories of the gay couple who owned the cottage before, Reg and George, looking back at their lives through the shifting attitudes of theth century.
I was less interested in the nature writing but the book jumps around, tackling a myriad of topics, from Welsh language and culture and the changing seasons to the challenges of renovating an old property.
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