Alex McCarthy talks to Caryl Lewis

Tucked into the Welsh valleys and encircled by silver birch and pine is the village of Cwmcysgod, a quiet and sleepy place. But all is not as it seems in Alex McCarthy’s novella The Unbroken Beauty of Rosalind Bone: there are simmering tensions in Cwmcysgod, where a unique cast of characters gives voice to their version of the truth, and of the story of Rosalind Bone. McCarthy introduces the world of Cwmcysgod and characters including 16-year-old Catrin Bone and her embittered and reclusive mother, Mary, whose sister disappeared from the village in a shroud of shame years before.

McCarthy was born in Cardiff and grew up in South Wales. An alumna of London Contemporary Dance School, she worked as a dancer and choreographer for a number of years on stage, TV and film. The Unbroken Beauty of Rosalind Bone won Wales Fiction Book of the Year 2024.

She talks to author and previous Wales Book of the Year winner Caryl Lewis.