Nineteen-year-old William’s decision to volunteer at the tragic scene of the 1966 Aberfan landslide transforms his life forever in this moving story about sacrifice and compassion.
Waterstones Welsh Book of the Month for January 2023
When we go through something impossible, someone, or something, will help us, if we let them.
It is October 1966 and William Lavery is having the night of his life at his first black-tie do. But, as the evening unfolds, news hits of a landslide at a coal mine. It has buried a school: Aberfan. William decides he must act, so he stands and volunteers to attend. It will be his first job as an embalmer, and it will be one he never forgets.
His work that night will force him to think about the little boy he was, and the losses he has worked so hard to forget. But compassion can have surprising consequences, because - as William discovers - giving so much to others can sometimes help us heal ourselves.
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 9780571368310
Number of pages: 400
Weight: 332 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 24 mm
Edition: Main - Re-issue
I was very lucky to receive a proof copy of this book. It tells the story of William Lavery, a talented chorister who, against his mother's wishes, follows in his uncle and late father's footsteps to become... More
When a book makes me cry within the first chapter… it just… gahh… I don’t think I will be able to properly convey just how stunning A Terrible Kindness is.
This moving and memorable tale follows one man and starts...
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The book opens with William at an evening event for embalmers with the beautiful Gloria. Not many books deal with the lives of embalmers/ undertakers so this was original in itself.
An emergency call comes through for...
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