The writing in this book is solid as a rock and the style fits perfectly with the harsh life of farming families in the hills of the Welsh borders. There is a masculine tone to the narrative as the story is mostly told through the experiences of Oliver, the son of a sheep farmer, whose family have lived in the same property for multiple generations. The book begins in 1941 when Oliver is a young boy at school. He's a big strong lad with a swarthy look to him, and one day other boys taunt him that he looks like a gypsy and not his father. There have always been rumours about him, but his mother has never agreed to talk about it, so Oliver learns to put up a fight and takes on anyone who hits him first. The farm they live in is barely changed from a century before as Oliver's father Idris prefers the old ways and resists modernisation. He still farms using a plough with a horse and refuses to have electricity connected to the house. Winters are terrible with ...