Whilst heavily-researched, this book does require a passing interest in Welsh miners, politics, Thatcher... For me, lack of knowledge going into the book made it hard to be invested in the storyline. You learn a lot through the book, and I do think its an important period for people to be aware of especially UK LGBTQIA+ individuals - speaking for myself, I don't know enough about queer history.

This book was unexpectedly explicit (which is not necessarily a bad thing, though did make the train journeys awkward) and I think had to try to hard to balance between a political historical (ish) fiction and a queer coming of age story.

The ending, for me, felt right. I liked how the future opened up for our protagonists and how there's a whole world of opportunity for them. Following the romance and Eluned finding herself were my favourite moments in this one and I'd love to hear more of their story and am excited to see where the author takes us next.