This book collects together a series of stories from Owain Glyndwr's life, concentrating on his fight against Henry IV. The tone of the book is part history, part fairy tale ('No one in the world was more handsome than Owain Glyndwr'), and readers may need some knowledge of the history already or some support to follow how the stories link together, as obviously much has to be left out or implied. It is a beautifully written book, full of energy and spirit, and Ifans is particularly good on the details of life - the food, the clothes, the horrors of riding to battle in the rain. It is a more convincing sensory picture of life in the time than many a long novel on the period, and the pace and verve in the book will keep anyone reading along. This prose is matched by Margaret Jones's vibrant illustrations. Ifans also, very cleverly, manages to end on a note of hope rather than defeat, with Glyndwr disappearing into the woods until we need him again.(My only worry would be the anti-Englishness in the book - unavoidable given the period of history under discussion, but the fairy tale quality of some of the stories does broaden this in places into 'Welsh good, English bad'. I'm quite sure there would be fury if an English publisher were to publish a book presenting the Welsh as the English are painted here.

I think that Henry IV could have been presented as he is without depicting all the English soldiers as mercenaries while all the Welsh are heroes.)Rhiannon Ifans is an inspired storyteller, matched by Margaret Jones's superb illustrations, and they both succeed marvellously in bringing this vital period of Welsh history to life.