Review: A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe
by The Borrowers Book Group Kesgrave Library
The Borrowers Book Group at Kesgrave Library share their thoughts on A Terrible Kindness, written by Sunday Times bestselling author Jo Browning Wroe.
About A Terrible Kindness
Tonight nineteen-year-old William Lavery is dressed for success, his first black-tie do. It's the Midlands Chapter of the Institute of Embalmers Ladies' Night Dinner Dance, and William is taking Gloria in her sequined evening gown. He can barely believe his luck. But as the guests sip their drinks and smoke their post-dinner cigarettes a telegram delivers news of a tragedy. An event so terrible it will shake the nation.
It is October 1966 and a landslide has buried an entire school: Aberfan. William decides he must act, so he volunteers to attend. It will be a choice that threatens his own happiness and forces him to think about the little boy he was and the losses he has worked so hard to bury.
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Book group review
This is a beautifully written and, in parts, very moving book, with a most unusual if not unique subject matter. In this debut novel by the author, she effectively uses her own experience and memories of growing up in a crematorium in Birmingham as a basis for the central character, William, who follows into the family business of Undertakers and Embalmers.
The story ties together well as it moves between past and present. It begins with William as a newly qualified embalmer volunteering his services at the tragic disaster which was Aberfan in October 1966. The sensitive writing was an eye opener to the hidden world of embalmers and we learnt a lot as well as gaining a respect for what they achieve.
There were subtle depths in the relationship between Robert and Howard as well as between Martin and William as schoolboy choristers. The attitudes very much reflected those of society in 1950s England with its narrow expectations of job prospects and limitations on women. All the characters were convincing. We found William, though an interesting character, also very irritating in his self-obsession and selfishness and Gloria frustrating in her acceptance of William’s behaviour. However, redemption comes and there is forgiveness all round.
Recommendation: A most unusual book, beautifully written and in parts, very moving. Certainly something different for a Book Group.
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