This Stolen Land

The Gwent Levels line the north shore of the Severn in South Wales: Cas Gwent (Chepstow) at its head; its more famous cousin, the Somerset Levels, across the water; the Welsh capital, Caerdydd (Cardiff), at its feet. You could waste an hour crossing the Levels by motorway. Or brush aside the journey by train. But writer Marsha O'Mahony has chosen the slow route of foreshore, footpath, and country lane. Over the course of two years, she meandered from village to village collecting conversations and anecdotes as she went. The result is a remarkable oral history of this unique landscape and the people who live there.