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.
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