Gwenno is dead – perfect, clever, beautiful Gwenno, who is popular with both swots and cool people. Her body was found in the slate mine, the police are everywhere around Bethesda, and everyone is looking for her. But they have no hope of finding her, as they have no idea what she was really like.
Children’s Books (Novels and Short Stories)
Novels and Stories For Young Adults
Those of you who are familiar with The Bridge and The Killing, you can forget scandi-noir because Bethesda-noir is here to stay!
I’ve always enjoyed reading from a young age, but I remember finding good books that grabbed my attention was quite a challenge when I was in secondary school. If only Llechi had been around back then!
Most of us are familiar with Manon Steffan Ros’s writing abilities by now, and will probably have read at least one, if not several of her many excellent novels. Llechi certainly doesn’t disappoint, and her ability to draw us into the lives of her characters until we are fully engrossed is as strong as ever in this novel.
Our narrator is a 16-year-old boy called Shane, and the story is told entirely from his point of view. He takes us through the events following the murder of his classmate, Gwenno – a beautiful, clever, likeable girl who is the daughter of a well-off family who employs his mother as a cleaner. She’s also his best friend (though nobody else knows that).
Gwenno’s untimely death is something of a mystery. What reason would anyone have to kill Gwenno of all people? She was doing well at school, was popular with her peers and has the ‘perfect’ little family. Through Shane and his friends, bit by bit the story unravels about her family life and about the real Gwenno – a very different girl to the one portrayed on the news. During the police investigation, a few mysterious facts come to light, that place several characters under suspicion.
Will we ever get to know why Gwenno was killed and by whom? I’m giving nothing away here!
Although this is primarily a crime novel with some elements of murder mystery, other themes come up such as emotional abuse, depression, revenge, friendship, family, and social class. The snobby, two-faced nature of Glain Davies, Gwenno’s mother, is very accurately portrayed when she is caught talking about Shane’s mother in a patronizing manner.
There’s also some great social commentary from the author on how Bethesda (and possibly Wales in general) is portrayed by the media and by people from outside Wales. She also makes reference to how well some ‘perfect’ families give the impression that all is well on the outside, but the reality behind closed doors is very different. You never can tell what dirty little secrets people are hiding!
The most important message at the end of the novel is how important it is to ask for help if you yourself or someone you know is going through a tough patch or is struggling emotionally. It’s important to be aware of the signs and to look out for them – they aren’t always so obvious.
I really enjoyed reading Llechi. I have to admit that I was guilty of being a bit biased against Young Adult fiction, probably because I hadn’t really given it much thought and I didn’t realize there were so many good ones out there. Initially, I just didn’t think they’d appeal to a reader who’s a good decade older than the target age group, but now I realize I was wrong. This is definitely one that will appeal to teenage readers, but equally is a great book for adult readers too.
