Born into poverty in the remote valleys of South Wales, William grows up in a world shaped by hard labour, dangerous rivers, and communities struggling to survive. Education is rare. Opportunity is rarer still. Yet from childhood, William becomes fascinated by stone, by balance, and by the dream of building something that will outlive him.
As the coal trade begins transforming Wales and merchants demand safer routes through the valleys, William sets himself an impossible task, to build a bridge across the fierce River Taff where others have failed. Floods destroy his work. Rivals mock him. Powerful men try to break him. Each collapse threatens his reputation, his livelihood, and the people he loves.
Set against the harsh beauty of eighteenth century Wales, When The Stones Held is a story of ambition, resilience, love, grief, and determination. It brings to life the people, language, and struggles of a forgotten world while telling the remarkable true story behind the bridge that gave birth to the town of Pontypridd.
Perfect for readers who enjoy rich historical fiction, Welsh history, and stories of ordinary people achieving extraordinary things.
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Review
I wasn't sure how much I was going to enjoy When the Stones Held when I first picked it up. I enjoy historical fiction, but a novel about a man building bridges wasn't exactly shouting excitement at me. It didn't take very long for William Edwards to change my mind.
I really liked following William from childhood rather than meeting him when he was already an accomplished builder. His fascination with stone starts when he is young, and Mr Morgan plays such an important part in encouraging him. He teaches William rather than simply telling him what to do, and I loved watching William gradually begin to understand why one arrangement of stones works while another falls apart.
William is also incredibly stubborn. Sometimes this is exactly what he needs to be, and at other times I wanted to tell him that perhaps he could listen to the people around him for five minutes! But it made him feel like a real person rather than a historical figure who was always destined to achieve something remarkable.
I particularly enjoyed his early experiments with arches. There is a moment when William finally manages to build one that holds his weight, then gets a sheep to cross it, and his reaction afterwards is wonderful. He has been laughed at and has failed repeatedly, so you really feel what that small success means to him.
There is plenty going on away from the stonework too. William's relationships with Mr Morgan, Mary and Elen give the story much of its heart, while the Prices gave me someone to be thoroughly irritated with. Ewan starts making William's life miserable when they are children, and that resentment doesn't simply disappear as they grow older.
What surprised me most was how tense some of the building scenes became. Once William begins taking on much larger bridges, I found myself looking suspiciously at every storm cloud and wondering what was going to go wrong next. Considering I began the book thinking bridge building might be the part that bored me, that amused me enormously.
By the end, I felt as though I had watched William grow from a little boy playing with stones into the man behind an extraordinary piece of Welsh history. I knew nothing about him before reading this book, but I certainly won't forget him now.
And I will never look at a stone bridge in quite the same way again.
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