Here's what I wrote about this read in 2008: "Loved this series. Made Wales come to life, and made me mourn the acquisition by Britian. Still remember "David suffered to ride only with his father - was that father David, one of the brothers, or Llewelyn?". Read again to find out!". Still want to go to, and to immerse in, Wales; including to visit some of its history. Was obviously on a medieval reading course during this time of life; check out other books read during the years 1995-97. And, interesting that they were all written by women. ( )

Four books all bound in one volume:

Sunrise in the West: It read more like a history than an historical novel but there was plenty of history to get through to start to tell the story of the princely families of Wales in the 1200s, a history that I really know very little about. It is still well-written and makes it all come alive and I'm looking forward to the remaining three books.

The Dragon at Noonday: This was a bit more of a slog for me, alot of it was politics and battles. I had trouble following the geography of England and Wales that I don't know very well and I did stop keeping track of which noble family was on which side. However, it is still a compelling story with interesting, slightly larger-than-life, characters and I look forward to what happens in the next two books. And I am keeping myself from doing a spot read on the history of independent Wales!

The Hounds of Sunset: I am getting more accustomed to and appreciating her use of the characters to tell the history and I'm getting crammed packed with history! I thought at the end of the last book that the enigma that is David would prove tragic and it did, very much so. He is a tough character to understand, the narrator constantly says he both loves him and does not know him at all. Once again, it was politics and battles but also alot of character-driven drama and well done. Although there was tragedy in this one, it did end on a slightly optimistic note so I am very interested in how it finally ends with the final novel of the four.

Afterglow and Nightfall: A tragic story, made the more so by lots of heavy foreshadowing of tragic events. It starts with an uneasy peace between Edward and Llewlelyn but it soon becomes clear that Edward means to destry any independent Wales. Then the ever hard to understand David kicks it all into war and the quite foreseeable and tragic ending. After I finished, I read some history and it seems she did stick to the known facts and then created characters to make the story. She did a marvelous job of it, a good series of novels and worth reading.

The brothers of Gwynedd contains all four of the Welsh novels of Edith Pargeter: Sunrise in the west, The dragon at midday, The hounds of sunset, and Afterglow and nightfall. It is the story of Llewelyn, the one, true and only Prince of Wales along with his interactions with his three brothers. The story is seen through the eyes of Llewelyn’s confidante Samson, born on the same day as the Prince. Through intrigue and battle, Llewelyn is seen as a truly majestic and tragic figure, and, by novel 4 and knowing what will happen, one still hopes that Llewelyn and Wales will succeed and that his brother David will not yet betray him again. Pargeter is sympathetic to the Prince even though he is listed as a rebel and traitor in most of the internet sources I checked to gain a better background for Welsh history. But the truth is that the victors write history and Edward Plantagenet won.

The four novels are dense reading in very small print with a scholarly style and in a period of history that is unfamiliar to most modern readers. The sections on Welsh law and the treaties and court battles were difficult reading. There is no map of Wales included and one is definitely needed to track the unfamiliar place names. It’s hard to figure out who Pargeter is talking about since the names are similar. (King Henry's wife, sister, son's wife and niece are all named Eleanor!) And it was really difficult to keep track of all the various characters so a who’s who list would have been helpful. There was a very short glossary of Welsh terms.

It took a long time to read these books carefully but it was well worth the time spent. I can recommend these books to anyone who enjoys medieval history as well as those fans of Pargeter’s Brother Cadfael mysteries which she wrote as Ellis Peters. ( )

A readable fictionalisation of a fascinating moment in Welsh/ English history. Enough truth to use as a start for research, or just a good read, it is good either way. Also available as four volume set.