Library of Wales: Farewell Innocence

William Glynne-Jones (1907–1977) was a Welsh novelist, short story writer, broadcaster and journalist. He was born and grew up in Llanelli. When he was 16, he started working at the Glanmor Foundry as a steel foundry 'moulder', but was released at the age of 36 on medical grounds. Soon, he moved to London with his family and started his career as a writer. Many of his works have been published, including four novels, several children's books and short story anthologies.

Starting as an apprentice at Bevan's foundry, Ieuan Morgan enters a new and testing world. His colleagues soon turn out to be his tormentors while life at home is not without its challenges. It is hard for the young man to sustain his dreams of one day being a writer, and of a better world. Things have to get worse before getting better so unemployment casts its long shadow over the town. But the lay-offs give the gifted Ieuan time to read and think and on a visit to the fair to meet Sally, a gentle, consumptive young woman from the wrong side of the tracks. With this, his destiny changes course.Written with a deep authenticity born from bitter experience, William Glynne-Jones depicts life in the fictional town of Abermôr and especially the daily grind of foundry life, in a workplace fraught with dangers. Farewell Innocence is a heartfelt and affecting account of a young man's rites of passage in hard times.