Peter Conradi fell in love with Radnorshire on his first visit in 1965 and At the Bright Hem of God is by way of being his love-letter to mid-Wales. His book covers, within its autobiographical frame, an account of the history and religious life of the area as reflected through writers of the county and its adjacent areas, starting in 1176 and going up to the present. His themes cover solitude and community, seers and remembrancers, a variety of different mystics and recluses as well as Rousseau in Radnorshire, who in 1766 planned to settle near Knighton. He never made it, but all his ideas did... In this fascinating book, Conradi explores the special place that is Radnorshire: rural – wild at times – a country of mountain and valley remoteness that has shaped the lives of its inhabitants. Drawing on his long experience of visiting and living in Radnorshire, Conradi selects key moments in its history, from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century, and examines the responses of writers as varied as Thomas Traherne and Bruce Chatwin, via and Jean Jacques Rousseau. The result is a unique portrait of the county, what it is like to have lived there and to live there still, and captures the essence of a hidden part of Wales and Britain. Within this narrative Conradi examines, too, the various landscapes of borders – physical, emotional, intellectual – from his own particular racial, religious, spiritual, sexual, philosophical identity, a complementary exploration of the human condition. Conradi’s beautiful and perceptive narrative is supplemented by superb line drawings by Radnorshire artist Simon Dorrell.
