CULTURE CLUB
Book Club CAMBRIDGE EDITION DEEPLY PERSONAL AND BEAUTIFULLY RENDERED, THESE PAGE-TURNERS ARE SURE TO LEAVE YOU WANTING MORE
WORDS BY CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS
This exquisite debut tells the story of star chorister William Lavery as he makes his way in the world, having followed in his late father’s footsteps and joined the family business as an embalmer, graduating his course with top marks. During celebrations with his classmates, the call goes out for help: it is October 1966, and news has broken of the tragic landslide smothering the small mining village of Aberfan. An ever- mounting death toll means there is an urgent need for embalmers to help with the bodies of the young children killed. Newly graduated William immediately offers his service, and is forever altered by what he experiences in Wales – both by the scale of the loss, and the raw humanity of those left behind. The rest of the story sees William’s tale unfold further: his past as a young chorister at a Cambridge college chapel, his close relationship with his widowed mother – who is desperate for him to pursue a career in music and not join the family undertakers – and the intense friendship with fellow chorister Martin. All of these are perfectly true-to-life in complexity, but it is in the quiet moments that this book truly soars. The fine detail with which the horrors of the Aberfan tragedy are rendered, making them even more heartbreaking; the gentle, domestic scenes of William and his landlord’s daughter Gloria having cocoa together. These all reinforce the TEACHER TEACHER Jo Browning Wroe is now a creative writing supervisor at Lucy Cavendish College ATerrible Kindness BY JO BROWNING WROE
love and connections that support this man through the lifelong impact of the trauma he experiences in Wales, and the loss of his father at such a young age. Cambridge is perfectly depicted, as you would hope from an author who lives in our city. The classics are all present: The Copper Kettle hosts William and his mother’s catch-ups, and Fitzbillies buns feature throughout, as do the timeless and strangely sentient college chapels – but there are also nods for insiders. Mill Road is perfectly described as the ‘guts’ of Cambridge; the low wall outside King’s is a place to stop and rest; the ‘thwock’ of tennis balls on the courts by the river on Jesus Green a transportive sound. Even the title plainly lays out the two-sided nature of life. That it’s possible to both hate and love someone in the same moment – to never want to see them again, yet also desire to see no one else. It shows that in the midst of heart-wrenching sorrow, there can be shimmering moments of hope, and that the only way to know true love is to bravely face the terrifying prospect of losing it. We might never know the
people whose lives we affect – we can only try to do the right thing, with kindness. A heart-stopping must-read that will see you looking up times for Evensong, or at the very least, putting some choral music on your playlist.
28 MARCH 2022 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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