'After the first death, there is no other.' – or is there?

Advantages of the Older Man by Gwyneth Lewis

When this short novel popped through the door, I couldn’t resist reading it straight away. Gwyneth Lewis is a poet, author and playwright and I’ve previously read her volume in Seren Book’s New Tales of the Mabinogion series. The Meat Tree is a retelling of the strange and ancient story of Blodeuwedd, the woman made from flowers. Lewis’s version had a science fiction setting.

Her writings are very varied – so what could I expect from this new book?…

Now it can’t escape your notice that this new novella has the profile of Dylan Thomas lurking on the cover – indeed he looms large over the whole proceedings, so much so I dug around for an apt quotation to title this post and found his poem A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London.  (You can read it here.) In this elegiac poem, written in 1946, the death of an unnamed child is seen as a parallel to that of the Unknown Soldier.

However, the last line of that poem, taken slightly out of context, fitted perfectly – for this is an extraordinary little ghost story told with humour and a lot of heart…

Jennie has finished university and is back at home living with her parents in Swansea. She applies for a job with The Dylan Thomas Gallery which only shares the poet’s name – in their house her mother goes ‘Pig of a man,’ every time his name is mentioned and she is aghast when Jenny gets the job – it turns out she knew him – but she won’t give any details. It is there she meets Peter, a poet and hoping he’ll ask her out, she helps him to start up an Open Mic Poetry Club despite not being a poetry fan. Peter doesn’t seem to notice her though, so when he and Bernard decide to hold a Dylan Thomas celebration, Jennie leaps into helping and gets into the spirit of Dylan…

… or rather he gets into her. All this attention has brought the ghost of Dylan Thomas back and he appears to Jennie in her bedroom – he says he had no choice but to come:

‘If you’re worried, your reputation is still good. You seem to get more famous by the year, not less.’
‘The thing about death is that it’s very hard to accept, even when you’re dead. Maybe especially then.’
‘Mind you, I think that people know more about your rackety life than read your poems.’
For the first time, the ghost appeared perturbed. ‘Don’t they study me in schools and universities?’
‘They do. But you’re know as one of the Three Thomases.’
‘There are others?’
‘Yes, Edward Thomas, and then RS. He lived into his eighties. He wrote a lot about God.’
‘Was he known for being drunk on language like me?’
‘No. A vicar. Clean-living. Liked ornithology.’
‘Is he better known than me?’
‘Nominated for the Nobel.’
‘Bugger.’
‘You were telling me why I’ve been graced with your presence.’

He tells Jenny he’s writing new poems, haiku, she could ‘find’ them and make him more famous again, in return he could help her to get Peter…

There’s a lot more to his return than that deal though and I’m not about to spoil the story for you. Jenny and Dylan will strike up a love-hate relationship – at one stage he’ll possess her leading to the priest being called, at other times they’ll happily walk on the beach together. One thing is certain – a life which includes Dylan Thomas, alive or dead, is always going to be interesting!

Although a comedy, this novel has some great moving moments and a couple of fantastic twists. (Yes! and all inside a mere one hundred pages). I loved it, and it would make an ideal stocking filler. (9/10)

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Source: Publisher – Thank you.
To buy or find out more visit:

Amazon or Seren Books directly (which may be cheaper for new copies for non-Amazon Prime members).

9 thoughts on “'After the first death, there is no other.' – or is there?

  1. kaggsysbookishramblings says:

    I must admit to having a huge weakeness for both Dylan and R.S.’s works (and how different they were as people!) I have a huge love of Wales generally, if I’m honest – and I kind of wish you hadn’t put in that link to Seren…. 🙂

  2. Col says:

    Sounds really interesting. I’m another with a bit of a weakness for two of the Thomas’s though in my case it’s Dylan and Edward! I recently watched a film about Dylan Thomas on TV which was great – the idea of him as a haiku-writing ghost is almost surreal!

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