Queen of the Rushes
{{Short description|1906 novel by the Welsh writer Allen Raine}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Queen of the Rushes is a 1906 novel by the Welsh writer Allen Raine, written in the English language and first published by Hutchinson & Co.
It was the eighth of Allen Raine's novels,{{cite web|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/jane-aaron-on-allen-raine-3182739|title=Reviving a women’s classic: Jane Aaron on Allen Raine|date=27 April 2013|author=Lorna Doran|website=WalesOnline|access-date=18 June 2018}} and is considered by many to be her best.{{cite book|author=Ashlie Sponenberg|title=Encyclopedia of British Women’s Writing 1900–1950|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRqJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA196|date=1 March 2006|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-0-230-37947-3|pages=196–}} It is set against the events of the recent 1904–1905 Welsh revival,{{cite book|author=M. Joannou|title=The History of British Women's Writing, 1920-1945: Volume Eight|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1a4_04M1OgC&pg=PT189|date=22 October 2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-1-137-29217-9|pages=189–}} and is subtitled A Tale of the Welsh Revival. Evan Roberts, the leader of the revival, appears as a character in the book.
Plot
The book begins with the sinking of a small vessel, resulting in the deaths of several agricultural labourers. The incident orphans two of the main characters: Gwenifer, who is struck dumb by the sight of seeing her mother drown, and Gildas, who inherits his father's farm.{{cite book|author=Sally Roberts Jones|title=Allen Raine|date=1979|publisher=University of Wales Press|page=61}} Gwenifer becomes devoted to Gildas, but he instead marries the vivacious Nance Ellis, granddaughter of one of his tenants; Nance becomes caught up in the revival, as does a sea captain, Jack Davies, with whom she falls in love, whilst Gwenifer and Gildas remain aloof from what they consider the excessive zeal of the local congregation.{{cite book|author=Katie Gramich|title=Introduction to Queen of the Rushes by Allen Raine|publisher=Honno|year=1998|pages=1–21}}