I was influenced by the glowing reviews form authors I admire and enjoy when I downloaded this book. Initially, I was intrigued as the subject matter and premise was so unique, I mean I've never read a book about an embalmer before! I found the Aberfan scenes very difficult to read and almost gave up because of them, it very accurately portrayed the desperation and darkness of that horrific event, but not sure I needed to suffer. I enjoyed the Cambridge chorister section, and loved the relationship with Martin.
All in all, I felt that maybe too many 'issues' were raised in the book which did spoil my enjoyment of it. However, I finished it, and was happy with the ending, albeit that the strands were all tied up rather nicely.
I thought however that it was a wonderful first novel, well written and researched. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an early copy. 3.5/5

Oh my goodness what a beautiful book! I was hooked from beginning to end utterly drawn into this unusual but fascinating tale of a young, newly qualified embalmer who volunteers to help at the terrible Aberfan distaster. The after effects run deep and together with his history as a chorister at Cambridge life proves quite a challenge for our hero William Lavery. .There is conflict between his mother and Uncle Robert, his dead father’s twin. The twins have their own embalming business and it is hoped that William will join the company but William’s mother Evelyn wants him to continue with his singing. William has a beautiful voice! At Cambridge he makes a friend for life with Martin, a fellow chorister. However, this too proves problematic. This tale is told with such empathy, such joy in the singing I truly could not put it down. Of course I listened to both the deeply emotional songs and by the end of the book felt quite drained but the read was worth every tear I shed! . This book should be a film, I absolutely loved it!

Firstly I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. It is a very different book to those I would normally choose but I am so glad that I read it. It was beautifully written and I didn't want it to end.

I feel that this book wasn't respectful enough of such a tragedy. It was all over the place and too many fictional moments. This disaster is still raw for both the country and the families affected by such a horrendous disaster. It was just too disrespectful.

I would like to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for giving me this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Wow what an amazing gentle book.

It is all about a Young man called William and how his life has progressed.

It starts with him at the age of 19, a newly qualified Embalmer, when the worst disaster of the UK hits, when a slurry pit descends on a school in Aberfan, Killing 116 Children. William volunteers to drive to Aberfan and help lay the children to rest, when their bodies are brought out from the school, asking parents do they recognise pieces of clothing, before taking them inside to identify their children. This part of the book is heartbreaking, and being from Wales and having friends who had family, who lost live ones, it was especially poignant. This act of kindness on Williams part, seriously effects his life for the next 7 years as he suffers from PTSD.

The book also goes back to Williams childhood, and the struggle he and his mam goes through after losing his dad. His dad wanted him to join the family business of embalmers and his mam wanted him to be a chorister. There is a difficult relationship between his mother and his uncle (who was her husband's twin) and his Partner.

I really enjoyed the ebb and flow of this book, it made me cry as well as making me smile. I would love to hear William sing. This book really touched me and I would definitely recommend it to everyone.

I was interested to read this book given the fabulous comments from writers who I have also enjoyed. It begins by detailing the tragedy of Aberfan and William, as a trainee embalmer, is sent to do the most testing job he will ever encounter. This is a dramatic and well written beginning.
We then flash back to his boarding school days as a chorister which is described beautifully. But I found the book to slow down at this point and get rather hard to enjoy.
I pressed on and the book opens up to reveal more about the relationships that influence him and his future. I was unsure about the tense in which it is written and found it a bit irritating, not sure why.
Its a quirky book, well written and an incredible debut but just a bit slow for me.

Jo Browning Wroe’s memorable debut novel begins with the Aberfan disaster. Nineteen-year-old recently qualified embalmer, William Lavery, responds to the emergency call for help, working ceaselessly to lay out the many children killed by the colliery spoil tip that plummeted into their school on 21st October 1966. Years later, a local woman recognises that the embalmers had to do ‘…a terrible job. A terrible kindness they did for us.’
And the ‘terrible kindness’ plays havoc in what is already a troubled life. We first meet William as a young boy whose father has recently died, off to boarding school to pursue a singing career. Browning Wroe depicts the hardships endured and the friendships made in the musical hothouse environment of a Cambridge choir school in tremendous detail. We understand William’s bewilderment at the seemingly arbitrary rules and regulations, rejoice in his joy of music, and appreciate his worries as he tries to be loyal in thought and deed to his warring mother and uncle. The author’s depiction of William’s world view is both delightful and painful and she gives us a truly convincing central character.
Also superbly depicted is the Aberfan narrative. Browning Wroe’s research into the role of the embalmer sits lightly within this section of the story but we are left in no doubt how harrowing it is to be part of these particular funeral preparations. William returns from Aberfan a different man and he vows that he will never allow himself to go through the pain of the grieving parents he witnessed at the scene.
Browning Wroe’s clever use of structure, weaving experiences of the past and present, the child and the man, reinforces how life’s experiences make us who we are. The kind and loving adult William is also a fragile, angry, resentful person. Although he tries to bury past trauma, he remains both ashamed and unrepentant. The question is whether he will be able to allow others’ kindness and wisdom help him to heal.
Whilst the second half of ‘A Terrible Kindness’ lacks the pace and conviction of the brilliant first half, this is still a very worthwhile read. Thoroughly recommended, and I look forward to the author’s second novel!
My thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I loved this. It’s heartbreaking, beautiful and life-affirming all wrapped up in a captivating plot with characters you will end up wishing you knew in real life. It’s not ah easy read in places, as you’d expect from a book that involves the Aberfan disaster of 1966 but it’s very sensitively written and serves to honour those involved.

In the opening section of A Terrible Kindness, William, a recently qualified embalmer, volunteers his services in the Aberfan disaster of 1966.
The next section drops back ten years to a time when he wins a scholarship as a talented chorister. Close to his mum at 10 years old, the change to boarding school life hits him hard, but he focuses on his ambition to be soloist on Ash Wednesday one day in Allegri’s Miserere.
For the years that follow, the decision about whether to continue with his singing or to take up a career in his family undertaking business is always there.
A Terrible Kindness is an easy enough read. It should have ticked all the boxes for me with its musical allusions and the background of Aberfan which I remember from my childhood. While his experiences there made him damaged, I just could not imagine how William could carry on with his baggage, causing so much grief to his family, instead of doing something about it. Although its fair to say that nearly all the characters were equally egocentric, mother especially.
What I really liked, was the wholly unselfconscious approach to embalming, brilliantly done.
I was overly influenced by the author recommendations I am afraid.

William is brought up by a single, overprotective and possessive mother after his father dies when he is eight.
Her one wish is that he follows a vocation in singing. He manages to get a scholarship as a Cambridge chorister where he meet Martin.
The family business of embalming calls which he follows.
When he graduates at the age of 18, it is the day of the Aberfan mining disaster. He volunteers to go to help but the event has a profound effect on him which scars his life in so many ways.

William has just qualified as an embalmer and is at a presentation dinner when the disaster of Aberfan is announced. This is 1966 and the nation is horrified at the tragedy. Embalmers are required and William volunteers to go and help. His father died when he was young and his mother appears to not be around so he has been brought up by other relatives. His father and Uncle ran an undertaking business and it was his fathers wish that he carry on the family firm. His mother however isn't so keen and he embakes at a choir school- something he excels at. Whilst there he makes discoveries about life (bear in mind the era) and his uncle and close friend Howard.
I loved this and quickly got into it, not wanting to put it down. There's a skill of writing certain characters and this shone through the pages. I couldn't help but like and empathise with William and his situation as I feel many will. Sometimes I find I need a book to reassure me about life and despite the ups and downs that there are good, kind, understanding people in the world and this did this in spades. This is a debut novel- wow- sign me up now for the next one- this is a stunning, enveloping, moving read.
A book of hope and tragedy and what lies beyond both. Of compassion and kindness and of selflessness.
One stunning read to remember.
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The premise of this novel was good and the fulsome advance praise from some of my favourite authors prompted me to read it. It is a good story but not outstanding, which is frustrating because it had the prospect of being a great read. It starts out well and the first section about the Aberfan tragedy was very moving but then the characters lose traction and the story gets bogged down in domestic detail and an unbelievable plot. A good attempt for a debut novel - not terrible and a quick and easy read but a bit clunky in my opinion.

This wasn’t a bad book by any means. It’s a nicely written, easy read. After a great opening though, it lost pace and plodded along.

William is a young, newly qualified embalmer, following in his father and uncle’s footsteps in the undertaking business, when the disaster in Aberfan happens.

For anyone not familiar, an avalanche of coal waste on a rain soaked mountain engulfed a town and primary school in Aberfan, Wales in 1966, killing 144 people, the vast majority of whom were young children. (You might have seen the episode of The Crown that deals with the Queen’s response to Aberfan.)

William immediately responds to the call for embalmers in the aftermath of the disaster but his experience there traumatises him, leaving him psychologically scarred for years. This, combined with a fractious relationship with his mother, impacts greatly on William’s personal life and holds him back in relationships.

The story is told in flashbacks to William’s childhood as a chorister at a boarding school in Cambridge and I think this is where the book fell down for me. There is a part of the story withheld from the reader concerning a solo, and when it is eventually told, the reveal is underwhelming.

When it circled back to Aberfan at the end, it didn’t have the same emotional resonance for me as at the beginning of the story. I guessed I’d have liked more Aberfan, and less of William (who, btw, for anyone who’s read the book, treats Gloria terribly. I’d have given him the boot up the yard).

This is my second boarding school novel this year, the other being Madam by Phoebe Wynne, which I didn’t think was great. I might abandon the genre and leave it in my childhood, with Mallory Towers and St Clare’s. 2.5/5 ⭐️

Framed around the tragedy of Aberfan, but not hugely about Aberfan, this felt a bit over complicated and clunky. The dates move around all over the place and its quite jumpy. I think the story needed to commit to Aberfan, or not bother as the circling back didn't work for me with very little story in the middle. Living in Wales, this is still a very sensitive subject, and I'm not sure this has the sensitivity that those passages need.

A moving account of how a National tragedy has implications for people way, way beyond those families immediately involved. William Lavery has just qualified as a embalmer when he volunteers to use his skills in the harrowing aftermath of the coal slag heap collapse in Aberfan in 1960s Wales. His experiences there will alter the course of his life afterwards, and cause him to reflect on what has gone before. The writing here is gentle and fluid, the characters absolutely believable and the emotions both raw and subtle. The story takes us back to William’s loos of his father, his mother’s over protectiveness and his own extraordinary talent as a boy treble in one of Cambridge’s finest college choirs. This reviewer remembers the tragedy in Aberfan and is also a professional musician, and the writer has done plenty of research to ensure that the story is credible on both fronts. An engrossing page turner - perhaps not one of the great books of the year, but no less moving or thought provoking for that.