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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 at a coal mine has buried a school: Aberfan.
William decides he must act, so he stands and volunteers to attend. It will be his first job, and will be - although he's yet to know it - a choice that threatens to sacrifice his own happiness. His work that night will force him to think about the little boy he was, and the losses he has worked so hard to bury. But compassion can have surprising consequences, because - as William discovers - giving so much to others can sometimes help us heal ourselves.
About the author
Jo Browning Wroe grew up in a crematorium in Birmingham. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and teaches at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education on their Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing Her debut novel, A Terrible Kindness, was a Sunday Times bestseller shortlisted for the Bridport Peggy Chapman-Andrews award, and longlisted for the Prix du Roman Fnac. She has two adult daughters and lives with her husband in Cambridge.
Summary
Tonight nineteen-year-old William Lavery is dressed for success, his first black-tie do. It will be his first job, and will be - although he's yet to know it - a choice that threatens to sacrifice his own happiness in his desire to help others.
Foreword
A celebration of the power of community, love forged in pain and the redemption that comes from deep kindness in the face of terrible loss
Report
I LOVE IT! An incredible story with beautiful, elegant writing. A Terrible Kindness is utterly and completely brilliant. Joanna Cannon
