Book review: A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe (Faber & Faber, $32.99)

Reviewed by Louise Ward

Many of us know of the mining disaster at Aberfan in Wales in 1966, memorable because it was such an unimaginable tragedy.

The collapse of a slag heap wiped out a school and several homes, killing 116 children and 28 adults. This novel, based around that event, begins with a group of embalmers being notified that volunteers were urgently needed to go to Aberfan.

Our protagonist, William, is 18 years old and newly qualified; he knows he's good at his job and doesn't hesitate to drive from the Midlands of England to where he is urgently needed.

The most heartbreaking scenes are in the first few chapters of the book as William works through the night with great gentleness and respect for the dead and bereaved of Aberfan.

His experience will colour his view of the world for years to come, but this isn't the first trauma that William has faced in his young life. We discover that his father died when he was a young boy and that something happened when he was at school in Cambridge that resulted in estrangement from his mother and his best friend.

William is a singer, a former chorister of huge talent, and part of the story teases out how his career in music was cut short when he chose to enter the family undertaking business.

His uncle Robert (his father's identical twin) and partner Howard are the rocks to whom he clings and the main source of friction with William's mother, Evelyn. These storylines explore how grief complicates everything, how motivations are misunderstood, how love and expectations can stifle and destroy.

Despite the premise of the story — an embalmer on his way to prepare children for their funerals — this is a gentle tale of great human kindness. A Terrible Kindness describes a tangled web of love and grief that is eminently readable and memorable.