Playing Twm

Chick lit meets time-slip in an entertaining offering from Wales. Teenage Midge is thrilled when an opportunity arises to be an extra in a movie starring teen heart-throb Dylan Blane. As well as providing a possible opportunity to meet her idol – and who knows what, in Midge’s imagination, might be the romantic outcome – it breaks the dullness of life in the small Welsh town where she has moved with her parents.

Dylan is to play the 16th-century Welsh ‘Robin Hood’ style hero, Twm Siôn Cati. Part of the film is located in a remote cave; it is also the destination of Dr John Dee, the Tudor alchemist, on a time-travelling experiment. Midge and Dylan are both transported with Dee when he returns to his own time, and a substantial portion of the book sees the two 21st-century characters coping with life in 16th-century Wales, where they meet the real Twm Siôn Cati. Twm, infatuated with Midge, substitutes himself for Dylan, and in a reverse journey, travels with Midge into her time.

Whether Twm will stay with Midge or return is the question hanging over the remainder of the narrative. Midge, a resourceful and attractive protagonist with whom many teenage girls will identify, achieves through being with Twm, a self-confidence which had been undermined by the move to the country and constant bullying at school.

This enjoyable read which doesn’t set out to take itself too seriously, enlivens a significant era in Welsh history.