A working-class mining town boy's rise to war hero

Derfal Morgan is the youngest son of a collier in a South Wales pit village. Unlike his five brothers who enter the pit – where their different fates lie – his life is fortunate to be enriched by a Grammar School education, subsidised by his family.

Charting Derfal's illustrious career, leading to his appointment as a squadron commander as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), The Riches of Morgan's Orchard is a chronological tale that traces the growth of a young boy into a man against the background of the First World War. Alongside the action, there is a tender love story intertwined between Derfal and the Stationmaster's daughter, Ruby.