DEW ON THE GRASS: In Review

With much of July being a washout (this month’s must have item a thick jumper and a pair of wellies) Dew on the Grass by Eiluned Lewis offered a rare ray of sunshine to break up the endless rain. But, as well as being wet, the month was busy and filled with urgent jobs that needed to be completed before the summer break. This pushed the reading of this novel right back into the final weekend of July and I wasn’t sure I would actually have time to complete the task this month. Thankfully I was wrong and after clearing a couple of hours to tackle some of the novel yesterday, I found that the pace of the writing propelled me right to the final pages in record time.

Dew on the Grass is a snap shot into an early twentieth century rural childhood, rich with rolling fields, babbling streams and ripe blackberries. Lucy a nine-year-old girl narrates the story with heady imagination and eagerness. She is enthusiastic, moralistic and at times wonderfully naïve, allowing the reader to step back into our own early childhood and see the world afresh.

Lucy leads us on a journey through a year with summer months playing outside dominating the main body of the text. She plays with her siblings, engages with a cast of wonderful characters and contemplates her faith with earnest. Inspired by Eiluned Lewis’ own childhood, the reader is allowed to not only step back in time, but also experience the innocence of being a young girl with a rural landscape as her playground.

This book is such a joy to read and an ideal book to introduce to any young reader interested in embarking on the classics. For the adult reader it captures a time and place that lingers in the back of the mind and brings these memories to the forefront without cynicism or melancholy. This is a book that is good for the soul and a pleasure to be found in each chapter.


Lynzie Fitzpatrick – July 2024


[Lynzie Fitzpatrick, Honno’s Business Manager, is one of the team embarking on the Classics Reading Challenge this year. Keep an eye on our website and social media for more updates and reviews of our Welsh Women’s Classics]