A Terrible Kindness – Jo Browning Wroe

In October 1966 the country is shocked by the Aberfan disaster. The Welsh village primary school is engulfed by a slag heap avalanche. Fatalities number over a hundred, mainly young children. Rescue workers pour in but there is a more macabre need too – undertakers, child size coffins, embalmers.

William Lavery answers the call. Newly qualified and not much over a decade older than some of the dead schoolchildren, he heads to Wales, does a job, does it well, but not without emotional cost.

And he’s not in the best shape, emotionally, anyway, revealed as the novel rewinds to his childhood and the early death of his undertaker father. His dad’s twin brother, uncle Robert, provides a substitute father figure going forward, but that is resented for many reasons by William’s mother, Evelyn. William must cope with this tug of love, compounded by the competing future career paths they represent – a place in the family funeral business or in music, as his exquisite singing voice has earned him a place as a chorister at a Cambridge college.

Despite, or because of, his emotional vulnerability he attracts strong friendships – Martin, a boy in the Cambridge choir, and Gloria, the daughter of the family with whom he lodges in London – but fails to capitalise on the goodwill. Bust-ups occur and he retreats into his profession, more comfortable with the dead than the living.

The novel goes forward from Aberfan, and we hope that William can get over it, and himself, to find happiness or at least inner peace.

The writing is fluent and to the point, following William throughout. The settings – Aberfan, Cambridge, London – are convincing and the characters are well drawn. The embalming scenes are informative without erring into the graphic.

The unusual context, and the clever twists and turns, ensure interest is maintained to the end.

 

In The Woods – Tana French

When a call comes into the Dublin Murder Squad that some archaeologists have found a body, detectives Ryan and Maddox are on hand to field the case. Against expectations, the body is not one long-dead they have unearthed, but one freshly laid out on the alter stone at the excavation site at Knocknaree. The victim is quickly identified as a young local girl, Katy Devlin.

So, no cold case this. But there is one, still unsolved, associated with Knocknaree where in 1984 three local children went into the adjacent wood and only one returned, bloodstained, traumatised, and amnesiac. The returnee was young Adam Robert Ryan, who subsequently moved to England, losing his Irish accent before coming back unrecognised to join the Dublin police as plain Rob Ryan. And now he finds himself on the new case, filled with opportunities to stir his reluctant memory into life.

His fellow detective, Cassie Maddox, is the only one who knows his past, but they are a tight platonic partnership, so she goes along with his unwise decision to continue on the case.

The pair work their systematic way through the police procedural, the routine enlivened by their banter and gallows humour. But progress is slow and unrewarding due to inconclusive forensics, alibis galore, multiple but weak motives, and unreliable witnesses. On top of that, Rob Ryan’s echoing past affects his judgement and leads to some bad decisions that threaten the case.

Will they find Katy’s killer? If they do will the case withstand Rob’s tainted approach? And can he, in the process, crack the twenty-year-old mystery of his friends’ disappearance and his own, guilt-ridden, survival?

Tana French keeps the pot simmering along for the best part of 600 pages, unfolding each thread with deft mastery of plot and character. There are more novels about the Dublin Murder Squad, and I wouldn’t rule out another dip in.

A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles

The gentleman in question is Count Alexander Ilych Rostov, who in June 1922, aged thirty-three, is residing in suite 314 of the Hotel Metropol in Moscow.

Two things to note. First, though this is post-revolutionary Russia, the Hotel Metropol retains its luxuriant style due to its proximity to Red Square, the Bolshoi Theatre, and the Kremlin – after all, the comrades deserve some comfort, fine dining, and somewhere impressive to hold their interminable congresses. Second, though the Count’s title is redundant, he survives in this new proletariat world thanks to his historical support of the pre-revolutionary cause of reform.

But goodwill doesn’t last forever, and Rostov is called before a tribunal. He escapes with his life but at the cost of house arrest. He can return to the Metropol but never leave it; one step outside and he will be shot. And suite 314 is out of the question, it is a monastic cell in the attic from now on.

Rostov is, though, a gentleman, respected by the staff who continue to treat him with guest-like courtesy. He takes as his motto that a man must master his circumstances otherwise be mastered by them.

Those circumstances go on for over thirty years, during which time he: forges close friendships, then working relationships, with the Maître D’ and chef of the restaurant; has romantic liaisons with a leading actress in residence; befriends a precocious nine-year-old girl then, years later, assumes guardianship of her five-year-old daughter; agrees to assist a high-ranking party official to understand western culture; and befriends a American general, later diplomat, and supplies him with gossip on the party hierarchy.

The years pass surprisingly quickly - where is it going and how will it end are the hooks - though it takes the best part of 500 pages to arrive at a climax of sorts. Rostov, who carries the whole narrative, is a philosopher as well as a gentleman, and though he is confined to the hotel, the whole world enters its lobby, so it is never dull.

Phosphate Rocks – Fiona Erskine

An abandoned fertiliser factory at Leith docks is being demolished when a grisly discovery is made - human remains, but encased in a carapace of hardened phosphate rock that also encompasses the chair on which, and the table at which, the body is seated. And, it turns out, on the tabletop, an eclectic collection of objects.

DI Rose Irvine gets the job of finding out who it is and when and how they died. Her best chance, she is told, is to talk to a long-term employee, now retired, John Gibson. When he is brought in and the case explained he is nonplussed. But then DI Irvine presents him with the tray of objects, now cleaned of the phosphate, and his memory kicks in.

One by one, over the course of several days, he links each object to the history of the factory, to those who worked there, those who visited (in official capacity or otherwise), and the chemical processes that were carried out.

The structure of the novel is thus set. The objects’ stories are interspersed with lessons in chemistry explaining how to make various key components of the fertiliser industry – sulphur, potash, ammonia, nitric acid, sulphuric acid, etc. Possible identities emerge, are eliminated, are narrowed down, until a conclusion is reached.

Erskine is, or was, an industrial chemist and the novel unashamedly leans heavily on both memoir and an evident passion for chemistry, which creates an authentic and atmospheric setting for the mystery.

Some could find this mix clunky, but it worked for me.

The Manningtree Witches – A K Blakemore

Essex, 1643, the English civil war rumbles on in the background but at the coastal town of Manningtree it is the effect of growing Puritan power that threatens at a local level.

If the religious doctrine is of God’s goodness, how to explain bad fortune? – a child dies in infancy, a hen stops laying, a cow runs dry, a ship is lost at sea. Clearly the work of the devil and his handmaidens, who must be found among the single, the widowed, the unprotected women of the community. Women like young Rebecca West, nineteen or so, attractive and still not wed; like her widowed mother, Anne; and like the old crone, Mother Clarke, whom they keep an eye on.

There arrives in town one Matthew Hopkins, Cambridge graduate, devout Puritan, and on a mission to root out witchcraft. It is not long before neighbour disputes crystallise into accusations of curses laid and evil eyes cast, which Hopkins is all too ready to take up as evidence of devilment. Not that evidence is necessary – false witness, forced confession, and revealed bodily imperfections are enough to be detained and sent for trial.

Rebecca is one of those seized, incarcerated, and interrogated by Hopkins. She narrates most of the story in language and prose that richly describes events, characters, the Essex landscape, and then Colchester gaol. Possibly a bit too rich for one of her class and education; but get past that and enjoy the writing.

How will it end for Rebecca? Hopkins would like her to confess so he can ‘save her’ – maybe for himself. So that’s one option for Rebecca, though barely more palatable than the noose. That narrative hook, as well as the quality of writing keeps the reader engaged to the last.

And Away … – Bob Mortimer

In 2015, fifty-six-year-old comedian and national treasure, Bob Mortimer is diagnosed with blocked arteries, requiring open heart surgery. The planned tour of Reeves and Mortimer has to be postponed, and the subsequent surgery and recuperation lead Bob to reflect on his life, on how he got here.

Thus we get his autobiography, spliced with his recovery process. Born and raised in Middlesbrough, the youngest of four brothers, the early loss of his father leads to a special bond with his mother. His upbringing on Teesside involves getting into scrapes with his mates but he progresses well enough at school to get a place at university and then law school, to become a qualified and practicing solicitor.

That fledgling career takes him to London where a chance encounter leads him to see a one-man show in a room above a pub in New Cross – Vic Reeves Big Night Out. Ther show invites audience participation, and the rest is show biz history.

It is an engaging account of how a shy boy from Middlesbrough became a successful performer on stage and TV simply by being himself. Mortimer is modest and unassuming, bemused by his success but grateful for that sliding-doors moment that transformed his life from a dead-end job in the law to part of a manic comedy duo. The book goes on beyond his operation to include the Gone Fishing series with Paul Whitehouse.

It is an easy read and rings true, and even those ‘would I lie to you’ incidents seem to have happened (mostly).

Review of the Reading Year 2024

 2024 was a good year for the quantity of books read - 38 - if not outstanding for quality, impacted by some iffy reading group titles and some injudicious 99p buys on Kindle. There were slight majorities for authors new to me (55%) and for male authors (57%), though male authors managed to provide a clean sweep of the picks of the year - see below.

This year brought to an end the Bookpacking reading journey, which staggered to a halt in Iceland after  seven years and 21 books set across the world. Attention now turns to the Book-et List, which in 2024 knocked off only the final (original) Rebus novel, leaving ten of the planned fifteen to go at.

There are seven best books of the year for 2024, which are (month of the full review in brackets):

The Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann. A fascinating and harrowing exposure of a scandal, long-forgotten in the US, whereby the Osage tribe were systematically controlled, exploited, and murdered for their oil-based riches. (May 24)

Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor. A beautifully written, engrossing account of the rhythm of lives lived in beat with the natural world around it, as a rural community comes to terms with a tragedy on its doorstep. (May 24)

Bournville - Jonathan Coe. From VE Day in 1945 to its seventy-fifth anniversary in Covid hit 2020, seven decades of change in English society, told in seven snapshots of the same extended family, narrated with style, wit, and no little pathos. (May 24)

Pity - Andrew McMillan, Another book addressing generational change, set in a mining community in Barnsley, and told sparingly using a clever mix of writing styles. (June 24)

Mythos - Stephen Fry. The Greek myths given a retelling in the author's inimitable style mixing erudition and wit to great effect, (June 24)

The Pier Falls - Mark Haddon. A collection of not-so-short stories that showcase the author's talent and imagination, with a pleasing variety of settings and characters that only have one thing in common - jeopardy. (August 24)

The Wager - David Grann. A revelatory and gripping account of an ill-fated voyage, part of a British naval expedition to round Cape Horn in the 1780s, which ended in shipwreck, survival (of some), and recrimination. (November 24)