At 18, Rhiannon McLellan feels that she

has outgrown the familiar figures and

landscapes of Tinton, the Welsh village

where life has stood still, at least since the

death of her brother six years ago. But eac

determined step in Rhiannon s

development somehow takes her further

from the fulfilment she is seeking. An

English university promises escape from

confusion and repression, and so, in a more

immediate way, does her young English art

teacher. She has no guide, only a restless

desire for illuminating experience.

In contrast Ruth, the younger sister,

a placid plump schoolgirl, willingly

accepts her fate and her Welshness, and

unselfconsciously achieves the harmony

that eludes Rhiannon. Ruth marries a loca

boy and within a year has become a

contented housewife, leaving Rhiannon

isolated, with her family sundered and her

country in limbo between the habit of

dependence and the promise of

independence.