In the first and, arguably, the finest of Hilda Vaughan's ten novels the dawn of the twentieth century brings a new generation that clashes with the conservative traditionalism of an old Welsh way of life. Rhys Lloyd and his engagement with the ideas of Social Darwinism and the League of Nations make him a dangerous figure in the village. The son of a Welsh-speaking Nonconformist, his love for the church-going Esther reflects tensions that have long and bitterly divided the community. Most striking, however, is the stoic and determined Esther who calmly suffers the casual brutality of her agricultural upbringing, drawing on an inner strength and organic spirituality that would provide an archetype for Vaughan's later heroines. Despite a loving and sensitive depiction of her native Radnorshire landscape, Vaughan offers no rural idyll. "The Battle to the Weak" is a vividly drawn, socially engaged portrait of a small rural Welsh community with an awareness of its context within the wider world.

First published in 1948, this is a skillful retelling of the best known Welsh fairy bride folktale, "The Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach." Lured from her underwater home to become a farmer's wife in the Brecon Beacons, the fairy bride discovers that both her difference and her acquired familiarity breed marital breakdown and tragedy. The author uses the story as a reflection on the nature of marriage, the social construction of gender roles, and the human yearning for strange beauty. It is indispensable in any consideration of Welsh feminism in the first half of the 20th century, and continues to have great relevance to the modern reader.