The Shores of Darkness was originally written as the third in Elinor Lyon’s Welsh trilogy, following Green Grow the Rushes and Echo Valley.
The Merediths, Rowena the capable eldest, daredevil David and amiable young Mark, their friend Jenny Ash and newcomer Eileen, explore the caves, rivers and beaches by their home, on foot, on bicycles and by boat.
There is poetry (Rowena is trying to memorise Kubla Khan for a competition) and music (piano lessons and a lot of singing) and a constant awareness of the beauty of the sea and hills around them.
All the characters, however minor, are drawn with perception and a light wit whether in everyday family life or as they courageously face danger underground, cope with a frightening injury and as they overcome darkness, both literally and metaphorically. Written in the 1960s but, because of an editor who maintained that 12-year-olds weren’t reading books any more, The Shores of Darkness has never before been published.
(added to website 2 September 2023)