The Truth Behind Welsh Myths and Legends Now Stocked by Foyles and Waterstones

Written by Simon Williams

The Truth Behind Welsh Myths and Legends: Fear, Folklore and Everyday Belief in Medieval Wales is now stocked by Foyles and Waterstones, alongside its existing listing on Amazon. The paperback edition runs to 92 pages and was published on 27 April 2026, priced at £12.99 across all three retailers.

The book sets out an argument for reading Welsh folklore as functional rather than fanciful: the Tylwyth Teg as a mechanism that may have spared Wales the witch trials that swept England and Scotland, the Coblynau as encoded mining knowledge, and the death omens of the Cwn Annwn and Gwrach y Rhibyn as community systems for facing mortality. The case is built from history, archaeology and social anthropology rather than retelling the stories on their own terms.

Placement with Foyles and Waterstones marks a step beyond Amazon-only distribution for an independently published Welsh history title. Both retailers list the book under history and folklore categories rather than general fiction, positioning it alongside academic and reference treatments of British and Celtic mythology rather than retellings aimed at a younger audience.

"Every belief that survived generations of retelling was doing work for the people who kept it alive. The Tylwyth Teg were not an excuse for ignorance, they were a mechanism that let a community explain misfortune without accusing a neighbour. Getting Welsh folklore taken seriously as evidence, rather than filed under fairy stories, was the point of writing this."

Simon A. Williams, author

For readers researching medieval Welsh history, Celtic mythology or the social function of folklore, the book is now available to browse in person as well as online, a distinction that matters for teachers building reading lists and for readers who prefer to handle a copy before buying.

Author Simon A. Williams is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Histories and Castles. The Welsh Myths and Legends title joins his other two published works, No Law for the Poor and The Pendle Witch Conspiracy.

Where to buy:
Amazon · Foyles · Waterstones

Full details, sample chapters and background on the book's argument are on the book's page.

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