In July 1943, the young Welsh poet and soldier Alun Lewis, already recognised as one of the outstanding writers of his generation, arrived on sick leave at the house near Madras of Freda Aykroyd, a devotee of literature and the wife of a British scientist. Lewis and Aykroyd fell in love instantly, recognising in each other similar temperaments and artistic interests. Their affair, which lasted until Lewis' mysterious death on the Arakan Front in March 1944, inspired some of the finest of his wartime poems as well as an extraordinary cache of letters published here for the first time. The letters throw fresh light on Lewis' passionate and troubled nature and the background to his literary output at a time when he was at the height of his creative powers. In her preface, Freda Aykroyd charts the haunting story of their relationship and its tragic outcome.

Morlais is Alun Lewis's unpublished novel from the late1930s. The Lawrentian story of a young boy growing up in the poverty stricken industrial valleys of south Wales, it is also reflects Lewis' own experiences, particularly his search for self knowledge and his conviction that he would be a writer. Miner's son Morlais Jenkins is already being educated away from his background at grammar school when he is adopted, on the death of her own son, by the wife of the local local colliery owner. Morlais' parents recognize the opportunity for their son to make a better future, but they must all pay a great price. Stifled by middle class life, his adoptive mother recognizes that Morlais will be a poet and encourages him to be neither working class or middle class, but true to his talent. Full of vivid descriptive passages of life in the fictional mining valley, and centred on the conflicted character of Morlais and the decisions he faces over his two families, his two social backgrounds, and his desire to be a poet, the novel is an enthralling journey through the life of a young boy becoming a young man. Alun Lewis (1915-1944) was the outstanding writer of World War Two and Morlais, written in his mid twenties, is an early indication of the talented writer he would become just five years later. This edition is accompanied by an Afterword by Lewis' biographer, John Pikoulis.

Lewis emerged as a story writer of maturity during WWII. His first collection, The Last Inspection, was published in 1942; his later stories were collected posthumously in The Green Tree in 1948. Often anthologized, these have been unavailable for over forty years, though his poems have been reprinted. This contains all of the stories from these two books, as well as all those published in magazines since 1929. Seven unpublished stories are also included from more than forty left in manuscript form. His work bears comparison with that of Katherine Mansfield and Dylan Thomas.

Through his letters home and six short stories. Alun Lewis paints a vibrant picture of life in India as a British serviceman during World War II. Intimate, vivid, observational, and always filled with emotion. In the Green Tree is a rare literary example of one Welshman's experience of empire and war.