Return To Annwn

About the Book

The creation of this story and its artwork has been both a challenging and stimulating experience for me.

Throughout the book many characters appear, that have been inspired by  reading of old and traditional, Welsh and Irish tales. It is worth mentioning at this point that one of its main characters “Lan-Awn-Shee”, has been taken from such an ancient tale and is said to have been the inspiration behind “Bram Stoker’s”, classic novel “Dracula”. Another such tale is of “Glaistig”, half woman, half ghost that feeds on lonely travellers and always wears a green cloak to hide her true appearance.

Annwn has always been a mystical “other world”, with its origins lost in the realms of time, pre-dating Christianity by hundreds of years and then as in later tales, Annwn becomes Avalon, as with the “Arthur”, and “Murlin”, legends.

Aleena the heroine of the story is exiled from Annwn and her memory is taken away. She is sent into a strange and unfamiliar country and is challenged to find her way back home. Helped by the visions of Lea-Asheena, she journeys through towns and Cities on the east coast of the U.S.A., where she has many adventures and meets some wonderful characters. Her journey then continues across the Atlantic Ocean where she encounters the Banshee, wailing evil creatures. Her journey then continues on to Ireland where the adventures continue. Aleena then finally meets her Nemesis in the form of “Lan-Awn-Shee” and there is a battle in which ancient warriors of the past are called upon to assist and protect Lan-Awn-Shee. Aleena with her travelling companions then go on into Wales, where this story has its roots. I hope this book stimulates the imagination of the reader and is as enjoyable to read as it was for me to write and illustrate.

About the Author

Born and raised in Swansea South Wales, Jeff now fifty four has been a professional Artist for over twenty seven years. Married to Elvira for over 30 years and has one daughter Donna, now living and working in Barcelona Spain.

Jeff has an extensive portfolio of artwork much of which is community based, working with schools, after school clubs and youth groups throughout South Wales.

Jeff is a member of SAFT. Swansea Arts Forum Trust and an active member of SEEF Swansea Environmental Education Forum.

On November 23^rd 2001 Jeff received a life long Fellowship Award from the Millennium Commission for his Award winning project “The Wheel of Balance”, in which he created large oil painted panels that he still uses to raise awareness of environment issues. The Wheel display together with his talks have been extensively used over the last few years and has been taken as far as the Institute at Torrevieja in Alicante Spain.

Jeff has a keen interest in British history, folk tales and mythology and the creation of this book “Return to Annwn”, has been inspired by some wonderful characters from all three.