We find out later on what caused him to change his mind and make him the reflective 19-year-old we meet at the start of the book. “A terrible kindness they did for us”

Finally note that the book has something rather coincidentally in common with another of the Observer Top 10 Debut Novelists feature – “Trespasses” by Louise Kennedy also features a main character with the surname Lavery (who also lost their father, has a very difficult relationship with their mother and who ends up working in the family business). And to add another coincidence I spent four years at Cambridge – as a mathematician not a chorister (!) – and spent the fourth year living in the old superintendent’s lodge in a cemetery. It’s utterly magnificent and had to pull car over twice to cry. Intricate cobweb of love, family and friendship, so delicately wrought. Beautiful. A masterclass in character.’ VERONICA HENRY A Terrible Kindness recalls a day in October 1966 when coal and mud slid down a Welsh mountain side and engulfed the school in the village of Aberfan. I was a day seared in my memory because I was nine years old — the same age as many of the children who died — and like them grew up surrounded by coal mines. I absolutely adored this stunning book! It was only recently that I had even heard of the Aberfan tradegy, so when I read the blurb I was very intrigued to read this novel. I found the tension between the protagonist's actions and their moral implications to be captivating.I would also recommend this recording of Allegri’s Miserere which is crucial to the plot of the book as well as its themes – listen in particular to the tenor solo at for example 1:30 His memories swirl and gather, intertwine, and draw him to face a possible future upon which he believes only he can decide, but as he peers over the edge, it becomes clear that the ‘concrete feet’ of Aberfan are not the strongest grounding forces in his life. Aberfan scooped out the core of him, stretched him thin. It set up camp in his body, behind his eyes, in his ears, his nose, on his hands, and running through his blood

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read an ARC of this very special book.

Church Times Bookshop

This approach helps William make his decisions in life – if this, then that – and seems to work well for him as his moral compass, until his self-discipline slips to self-indulgence and then self-loathing.