The Blue Book of Nebo

In my review of the Eisteddfod I mention getting to see Manon Steffan Ros, whose The Blue Book of Nebo is probably the most successful Welsh language book ever. As Ros has produced an English language version of it, and this is Women in Translation Month, I figured that I should review it here.

The Blue Book of Nebo is a post-Apocalyptic fantasy set in North Wales. The title refers back to such legendary tomes as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch and the Black Book of Carmarthen, which provided inspiration for Tolkien’s Red Book of Westermarch. The books are named for the colour of the leather in which they are bound. The Blue Book of Nebo is not bound in leather. It is a notebook owned by a boy called Dylan in which he and his mother, Rowenna, write their recollections of the world that was, and their lives as, as far as they know, the only living people left on Earth.

Nebo, by the way, is a real place. It is a small village in the foothills of Eryri just south of Caernarvon.

Being told largely from Dylan’s point of view, The Blue Book is marketed as YA. However, it is not a coming of age story, and there is not much message in there given that there is no society for Dylan to be growing up into. He was a child when the world ended. He is a teenager now.

The thing that hits you most about the book is the very different views of the two characters. Rowenna, having been an adult in the world before the End, misses it much more, and is also much more fearful of what might still happen to her and her son. She tries to shield Dylan from much of the nastiness of the world.

Dylan, in contrast, can remember little of his life before the End. He takes great joy in learning to grow food and build things in and around their house. He knows that he has a lot to learn, and he knows that his mother has been keeping things from him. For example, she won’t talk about his father, though he knows he must have had one. Then there is the question of his baby sister, Mona, who was born after the End. Where did she come from?

The Blue Book of Nebo is, in many ways, the book that Station 11 could have been, had it not wanted to be so relentlessly cosy. Ros doesn’t sugar-coat the dangers of a post-Apocalyptic world, nor does she have her characters descend into barbarism. Rowenna has salvaged a lot of books from a local library—fiction as well as ‘how to’ volumes—and Dylan is an avid reader. But equally there is no suggestion that culture will save them.

I should note also that Nebo is not far from Anglesey, and therefore from Wylfa atomic power station. That plays a significant part in the book, because if the world ends the systems that safeguard the operation of such places also end.

I really loved this book, and I can see why it has become so popular. It really brings home the stark reality of having to exist without any modern conveniences. It also has interesting things to say about Welshness, and the people of Wales’ connection to their cultural heritage. Which is why I now want to read the book in the original Welsh. Ros wrote the English version, but she calls it an ‘adaptation’ rather than a translation. I’m interested to know what she has done differently, and what she might be shielding English readers from.

Title: The Blue Book of Nebo
By: Manon Steffan Ros
Publisher: Firefly Press
Purchase links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Bookshop.org UK
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