Editing How Green Was My Valley (section)

==Plot summary==

The novel is set in [[South Wales]] during the reigns of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] and [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|King Edward VII]]. It tells the story of the Morgans, a respectable mining family of the [[South Wales Valleys]], through the eyes of the youngest son, Huw Morgan.

Huw's academic ability sets him apart from his elder brothers and enables him to consider a future away from the dangerous coal mines. He loses his opportunity because of fighting with a schoolmaster who punishes children for speaking Welsh. His five brothers and his father are miners. After his eldest brother, Ivor, is killed in a [[mining accident]], Huw moves in with Ivor's young widow, Bronwen, with whom he has always secretly been in love.<ref>The female first name "Bronwen" – hitherto known only in Wales – was introduced to the English-speaking public at large (see Sheard, K. M. (2011), {{Google books|FVyHTUQnnBgC|Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Names|page=110}}, {{ISBN|9780738723686}}).</ref>

One of Huw's three sisters, Angharad, marries Iestyn Evans, the wealthy mine owner's son – whom she does not love – and the marriage is an unhappy one. She never overcomes her romantic relationship with Merddyn Gruffydd, a local minister, who had declined to marry her because of his poverty.

Huw's father is later killed in a mine disaster. After everyone Huw has known either dies or moves away, and the village is reduced to a contaminated shell, and the house is being destroyed by a slag heap, he too decides to leave, and tells the story of his life just before going away.