Books published by Parthian Books

Illustrated by a Welsh International Sportswoman, this is the first in a trilogy of "Troll" books. It is suitable for little boys with pockets full of shells, pebbles and elastic bands.

The Withered Root recounts the troubled life of Reuben Daniels, reared in a south Wales industrial valley, in the bosom of the Nonconformist culture. Therein lies his downfall and that of his people, for The Withered Root is as thoroughly opposed to Welsh Nonconformity as My People (Caradoc Evans), though for different reasons. Revivalist passions constitute nothing but a perverse outlet for an all too human sexuality which chapel culture has otherwise repressed. Nonconformity has withered the root of natural sexual well-being in the Welsh, and then feeds off the twisted fruits.

Illustrated by a Welsh International Sportswoman, this is the first in a trilogy of "Troll" books. It is suitable for little boys with pockets full of shells, pebbles and elastic bands.

Featuring the first volume in the "Library of Wales" series, this book recounts the story of a boxer from Cymmer in south Wales ready to make his comeback. Abe has ensured Hector is nurtured into a single-minded fighting machine. He is ready to take on the world, but where do the true dangers lie.

"Cardiff Cut" takes a scenic and disenchanted tour of the Welsh capital. Witty, obscene, defiant... an aimlessly anarchic Joycean monologue... steeped in the city of Cardiff...

Set in various countries, this collection of 19 diverse essays reflects humor and humanity, pain and warmth in the lives of the characters.

A unique and enthralling collection from a prize-winning author, these short stories are sure to enthrall. In addition to being shortlisted for the Best First Book Award in the Eurasia Commonwealth Writers Prize, this collection was also shortlisted for Welsh Book of the Year 2003.

An experiment into the sources of the human brain through the mind of a young woman has gone horribly wrong. She has seen the great god Pan and will die giving birth to a daughter.Twenty years later feted society hostess Helen Vaughan becomes the source of much fevered speculation. Many men are infatuated with her beauty, but great beauty has a price, sometimes you have to pay with the only thing you have left.The Great God Pan was a sensation when first published in 1894. Its author, Arthur Machen, was a struggling unknown writer living in London. He had translated Casanova's memoirs and was living on a small inheritance. He immediately became one of the most talked-about writers of the last years of the nineteenth century, while the publication marked the start of his ongoing influence on modern fantasy and horror.Machen's dark imaginings of the reality behind ancient beliefs feature again in the acclaimed, mesmerising short story 'The White People' and the curious tale 'The Shining Pyramid', also in this volume.

Exploring the nature of obsession and entrapment, this novel is fortified by a strong dose of the macabre. It also displays a fascination with haunting, and--with more than a sinister nod to the ghost story--it probes the absences of fathers and mothers and the art of getting away.

A look at the world of Chris and Year Eleven mates, Zeb, Kish and Snowman, who trade in cut-price sweets; cadged fags and favours for Graham, who has a police-scanner in his living room for company. Welcome to Britain's top Chav Town, where if you want to go legit to get your clothes, you go to Stolen from Ivor.

Harry Price has worked for years as a railway signalman in the Welsh border village of Glynmawr. Now he has had a stroke, and his son, Matthew, a lecturer at Oxford, returns to the close-knit community that he left.As Harry lies in silent pain in his cramped bedroom, Matthew experiences the jarring familiarity of the childhood world which, alienated, he can no longer re-enter. Struggling with the unspoken tensions and losses that returning home has provoked, he recalls what has made him who he is. Upstairs his deeply thoughtful father recalls his own arrival in the village, the relationships between men during the General Strike, and the social and personal changes that followed, and he struggles to articulate all that has been left unsaid. A beautiful and moving portrait of the love between a father and son, and of the strength and resilience of a small community, Border Country is Raymond Williams finest novel.

Elan has been missing for two years. Her people presume she just abandoned the mountain but Nye John, a friend of Elan, and Elan's brother Cain have lost valuable stock to unaccountable kills. The rumours grow as the winter begins and the truth decides to come down from the High Vans.

An entertaining collection of seven dramatic monologues, this volume exhibits the exhilarating diversity of the female theatrical voice in Wales as seen in the works of five contemporary women playwrights and actresses: Lucinda Coxon, Gwenno Dafydd, Lucy Gough, Sharon Morgan, and Christine Watkins.

Reflecting both the raw and lyrical, this volume contains stage scripts of "Song from a Forgotten City" and "Gas Station Angel" and the film shooting script of "House of America" by Ed Thomas, as well as critical essays by Marc Evans and Jeni Williams and a conversation with David Adams.

We all like choosing the best-ever rugby team, but here is a XV with a difference. A team of fifteen writers, not players, describe the exhilaration of the game, and the emotions of the most passionate followers in the world, in some classic prose. They deserve the best team we can put on the field. Here it is - a selection of world-beating writing on rugby.

Some of the short fiction in this anthology is set in the urban centres of Wales. Other stories take the threads of styles of writing, urban and contemporary, weave them into the strings of themes that tie together the diversity and intertwining cultures strewn across the landscape of a modern Wales.