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A Terrible Kindness
- Narrated by: David Dawson
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
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A Terrible Kindness
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Summary
*INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*
*AN OBSERVER DEBUT OF 2022*
*AS FEATURED ON FRONT ROW*
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.
Biography: Jo Browning Wroe grew up in a crematorium in Birmingham. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and is now Creative Writing Supervisor at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. Her debut novel, A Terrible Kindness, was shortlisted for the Bridport Peggy Chapman-Andrews award. She has two adult daughters and lives with her husband in Cambridge.
Critic reviews
"It's a long time since I've read a debut novel that moved me so much." (Rachel Joyce)
"Extraordinary." (Sophie Hannah)
"A brave and tender novel." (Joanna Glen)
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What listeners love about A Terrible Kindness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Tracy morgan
- 20-01-22
A terrible kindness
I am welsh and lived in south wales Not far from ABERFAN. My father was one of the first men that ran to the scene immediately after the slag slipped.onto the school. My mother didn't see him for 3days as he tried to rescue and recover the children and adults. He has NEVER spoken about what happened in those 3days. I tried to broach the subject with my father once and he quickly closed the conversation down with a description about the disaster that is not appropriate for this review. The audio book was just wonderful and a insight to what really happened behind those closed doors of the chapels. The accents were right on. Thank you for putting this book onto the audiobook collection.
92 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Edwin Hayward
- 18-01-22
I really enjoyed this moving book. It made me cry. It made me smile. It left me with a warm glow.
The story opens with William Lavery, a young embalmer who has recently joined the family business, responding to an urgent call for volunteers to go to Aberfan to help in the immediate aftermath of the colliery disaster. Jo Browning Wroe evokes the horror of working on the bodies with deft understatement, never graphic, yet leaving no mystery as to its grim essence. Despite advice from an experienced fellow embalmer to "keep your head down and your heart hard", William cannot help but be deeply affected by all he has witnessed and done: "Aberfan has scooped out the core of him, stretched it thin, and catapulted it into the wild blue yonder."
From there, the book plunges into the past, showing us William as a boy chorister in Cambridge, and the genesis of his friendship with Martin. We see the conflicting pulls of his love of singing and the call of his family trade, and his blossoming romance with Gloria.
Everyone comes into difficult situations with unique emotional baggage, and William is no exception. As time spools forward past the tragedy of Aberfan, the latter continues to exert outsize influence over him. To discuss the plot in greater detail would be to veer too far into spoiler territory, but safe to say that the ending ties up many strands of William's life in a deeply satisfying way.
Normally, I absorb audiobooks in 90-minute installments on my daily 10K (steps!) walk. However, I ended up taking greedy bonus gulps of A Terrible Kindness, sitting on my livingroom sofa, eager to find out out what would happen to William next.
41 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 21-01-22
Wonderful.
Of all the people affected by the Aberfan disaster I had never stopped to consider the embalmers and how heart rendering it must have been for them too. Wonderfully written.
31 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- barbara
- 11-03-22
A touching yet unsentimental story.
I’m quite picky, but this fitted the bill. Every now and again I choose a book that isn’t in my usual genre of Crime and thrillers. This was a good choice with an intriguing story and believable characters. Very touching and enjoyable listen .
28 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 20-07-22
Cruel self serving shameful fiction
Do some 'authors ' actually realise that there are some subjects and real life suffering that should never be used for fictionalising, the shame of naming children and the process of preparing them for embalming as fiction,when the disclaimer at the end states this is all imagined,the shame of this author for doing this when there are living memories of these real children ,there is no tender heartfelt true back story to this but an utter tragedy being used as a vehicle to describe someone's'self development'
20 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Alison hornsbury
- 15-01-22
A stunning book, beautifully read
I cannot praise this book highly enough. The characters connected with me from the first pages and then developed in beautifully crafted lines through the different themes and years.
The book seems personal to me. I lived in Bristol as a child when the disaster happened. The city has deep links with the valleys and many of my father’s fellow teacher came from there. The sense of shock was massive and came through to us. Similarly I am very familiar with Cambridge but cannot claim any link to embalming. These connections allowed me to recognise the places but the story resonated because it is so well crafted with the plot lines carefully moving back and forward through time and peopled by characters that are well drawn and believable.
David Dawson reads the book superbly. He manages to find the voice for each character while never over dramatising. I can’t imagine another voice for William’s physical and metaphoric journey.
Thank you both Jo and David for an incredible listen.
I can’t wait for the next book.
19 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- pookie2shoes
- 14-03-22
My favourite book for a long time!
I loved the characters in this book. They are real and believable. I cared for them. The main character, William... wow, one of the loveliest people. I didn't want this book to stop!!!
12 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Granny J
- 27-02-22
Beautifully written
A story based on the recent tragedy at Aberfan but written from a very unusual viewpoint. Not for the faint hearted the detailed descriptions of embalming are graphic mixed with great tenderness. Heart rending a box of tissues is needed but the characters have such warmth and kindness. The beautiful descriptions show us the resilience of the human spirit and concludes on a positive joyful note. The narrator is perfect.
11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- LizLoz
- 22-02-22
Wonderful!
This story is nourishment for the soul. Beautifully read, with great characterisation for each voice. Lovely
7 people found this helpful
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- KF
- 05-03-22
A story within a story.
I absolutely loved this from start to finish. beautifully written and fabulously narrated! Highly recommend this audible book.
6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Sarah Vaulbert
- 16-05-23
Excellent story loved it
Wonderfully read. Amazing characters. Sad in parts but a lovely ending. Couldn’t stop listening to it I loved it.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 10-11-22
Predictable
Storyline is lacking but it was a unique career to learn about, a little creepy:)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Richard Calkin
- 28-10-22
Wonderful
Don’t let the sad topic put you off this fabulous beautiful book. It was terrific. I only wish I could read it all again for the first time
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 15-09-22
Beautiful
The book emerges from tragedy to show a profound and thorough self discovery. Well worth the read!