"a gripping contemporary story… brilliantly absorbs the magical elements of the original” The Guardian

“Sheers makes his 20th-century setting sing but holds on to the otherworldliness of his source material… A spellbinding fable about male self-destructiveness and the effects of war on those who return home.” The Financial Times

Two stories, two different times, but the thread of an ancient tale runs through the lives of twenty-first century farmer’s daughter Rhian and the mysterious Branwen…

After being wounded in Italy, Matthew O’Connell is seeing out WWII in an obscure government department spreading rumours and myths to the enemy. But when he’s given the bizarre task of escorting a box containing six raven chicks from a remote hill farm to the Tower of London, he becomes part of a story over which he seems to have no control.

The eleven stories in the Mabinogion come from two medieval Welsh manuscripts, with roots dating back many centuries earlier. They bring us Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and their own view of the Island of Britain. There is enchantment and shapeshifting, conflict, peacemaking, love and betrayal.

In this series commissioned by Seren, the old tales are at the heart of the new. Each author reinvents a story in their own way: creating fresh, contemporary tales that speak to us as much of our own world as of events long gone. Based on ‘Branwen, Daughter of Llyr’, White Ravens is a haunting novella from an acclaimed writer.