A Terrible Kindness opens with William Lavery at a celebration of him becoming the youngest embalmer to pass his training. It should be a defining moment in his career, and it is…but not for the reasons we might think.
During the course of the evening, October 1966, news filters through about an awful event that has taken place in Aberfan. The school has been buried, and many lives have been lost. Embalmers are needed to help with the identification of the dead, and the preparation of their bodies. William volunteers, and it becomes a night that he cannot forget.
The portrayal of a community suffering was done sensitively. Accounts of this tragedy are many, and there will be some that offer more factual detail. However, this setting is more of a backdrop for us, helping to explain the way our character develops. After the start, it remains a moment that helps to shape William but is not really addressed until much later.
Having had such a monumental start to his career, we then learn a little more of William’s past. We see how his background helped shape the man he becomes, and we are – very slowly – given the details that help us to understand the significance of some of the events we witness.
I found William something of a strange character, but the gradual peeling back of his layers was very natural. Learning about his childhood as a chorister was both entertaining and moving, and the descriptions of the role music played in his life was powerful. There was plenty of detail given about the embalming process (perhaps a little more than I might have wished to know) but I found myself struck by the kindness and care shown by William to those he works with. The latter stages, where William has his breakthrough moments, were awash with acts of kindness and compassion that had me tearing up, but it never felt mawkish or overly sentimental.
As the book moves towards the end, we know William is going to have to face his ghosts. This is not easy by any means, and yet there was a beautiful sense of a man learning to accept himself and his situation.
Thanks to the author for this sensitive exploration of the human condition, and thanks to the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read it in advance of publication.