Hearts Of Gold
It's difficult to say which is harder for trainee nurses Bethan Powell & Laura Ronconi
- their gruelling work in the hospital, or the frictions & the financial hardships at home. Bethan's communist miner father, rigidly chapel-going mother, unruly brothers & delightful but dubiously honest aunt, & Laura's vast Italian cafe-running family, cause the girls as much worry as any difficult case or strict ward sister. But working class Pontypridd agrees on one thing
- the 'crache', or gentry, who live in the big houses on the Common, inhabit a different world. So when Bethan & Laura are smitten by two young doctors, can love really bridge the divide? Or is the pull of the family too strong, the gulf too wide.
One Blue Moon
Maud Powell & her cousin Diana has always dreamed of becoming nurses, but their hopes are shattered when Maud contracts TB
- a death sentence in 1930s Pontypridd. With pits closing, Haydn abandoning a steady job for a stage career, & their cousin Diana's secret burden, the Powell family are facing hard times. Meanwhile, Ronnie Ronconi, eldest of the large cafe owning family, has two simple beliefs: his sisters must marry good Italian Catholics, & determination & hard work will get him anything he wants. But his dreams are shattered when he realises that what he wants is Welsh, chapel-going, consumptive Maud. For once, high-handed, ruthless Ronnie seems to be facing the impossible.