A PEMBROKESHIRE author who is internationally renowned for his contribution to the world of music has struck the right note with his latest book imagining what would happen if Beethoven had visited America.

Paul Griffiths of Manorbier has become the first writer from Wales to be nominated for the Goldsmiths Prize, which celebrates 'fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.'

Entitled Mr Beethoven, the tale imagines the composer not to have died in 1827, but in fact boarding a boat to Boston in 1833 to fulfil a commission to write an oratorio.

It is a story Paul, 72, hopes his readers will find ‘fun’, and one which he admits was partly researched as he travelled between Tenby and Manorbier on the 349 bus

In the book, Beethoven faces two problems as he embarked on his American challenge– his deafness and the need to re-write the commissioned oratario’s words.

These difficulties are resolved by two female characters - -a teenage girl who comes from Martha’s Vineyard to teach him sign language, and a woman of his own generation, with whom he forms a close friendship, who rewrites the oratorio text.

The work is done, the oratorio is performed and Beethoven returns to Europe.

A former music critic for the New York Times and The Times, Paul is also an internationally-respected music historian and librettist.

In 2014 he was awarded the OBE for services to music, literature and composition.

He wrote Mr Beethoven in 2017-18, “without any thought that 2020 would be a big Beethoven year, the 250th anniversary of his birth,” he said.

“What got me going was the fact of the commission,” he explained.

“It was also important to me that the internet allows us to find out all kinds of things and even to consult historical documents: passenger lists of boats going from Europe to Boston, maps of Boston and surroundings, portraits of people Beethoven could have met, and so on.

“So archival research could be done on the 349 bus between Manorbier and Tenby.

“This was fun. And it was my hope that readers would have fun, going along with a tall tale that has so many roots in historical truth.”

There are six authors on the Goldsmiths Prize shortlist, and the winner will be announced on November 11.