![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/PageTurners.jpg?resize=400%2C79\")
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“A Terrible Kindness” by Jo Browning Wroe<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n This debut novel promoted an interesting and lively discussion between the Page Turners.<\/p>\n William Lavery is a young, recently qualified embalmer who has joined the family business. When news of the disaster at Aberfan reaches him, he immediately volunteers to attend and it becomes his first job as an embalmer. The care and compassion he shows to the mostly young victims of that terrible tragedy, was beautifully portrayed, but had a profound effect on William’s life, to the extent of leaving his wife in later years because of his fear of having children of his own. He is forced to face up to his own issues concerning family and friendship which had been left to fester over many years rather than being dealt with. The book proceeds to become William\u2019s biography.<\/p>\n Following the death of his father, an undertaker in the family business, William wins a music scholarship and becomes a Chorister in a Cathedral School. However, rather than pursuing a musical career, which his mother desperately wishes him to do, family traumas redirect him into a career of embalming and results in him becoming estranged from his mother for many years.<\/p>\n It was mostly agreed by the Page Turners that the book was very well written, thought provoking with interesting characters, and extremely emotional at times. However, some thought that it was very inappropriate to use the tragedy of Aberfan as the opening to a fictional novel. Additionally, it was pointed out by a few of the group that the story became predictable and thus a happy ending was perhaps produced too easily. William was not always a likeable character and some of the traumas he experienced were as a result of his own actions and should not have been blamed on others.<\/p>\n Despite the difference of opinions, the final score of 8 confirms that this novel is recommended as a good read. A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “A Terrible Kindness” by Jo Browning Wroe This debut novel promoted an interesting and lively discussion between the Page Turners. William Lavery is a young, recently qualified embalmer who has joined the family business. When news of the disaster at Aberfan reaches him, he immediately volunteers to attend and it becomes his first job as an embalmer. The care and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3x2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9239,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9239","url_meta":{"origin":13580,"position":0},"title":"Heroes and Heroines","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd March 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cTHE PAGE TURNERS\u201d HEROES AND HEROINES Due to continued Covid restrictions, there was no opportunity for book club members to meet up in February. Instead the Page Turners were set the task to decide who is the greatest hero or heroine they have read about on their literary journeys. Will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/mockingbird.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5537,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5537","url_meta":{"origin":13580,"position":1},"title":"THE SECRET PLACE by Tana French","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 THE SECRET PLACE by Tana French This book is fifth in the Dublin Murder Squad series and although some of the characters can be found in previous novels, it can be read as a stand alone. Following the unsuccessful investigation into the murder of a teenage boy, Chris Harper,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7113,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7113","url_meta":{"origin":13580,"position":2},"title":"FALLING ANGELS by Tracey Chevalier.","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd February 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"FALLING ANGELS Tracey Chevalier. This novel tells the story of two families, covering a period from the end of the Victorian and into the Edwardian eras. The author highlights the many social changes through this decade, including the customs and etiquette of mourning and the beginnings of the suffragette movement.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4085,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4085","url_meta":{"origin":13580,"position":3},"title":"The Muse by Jessie Burton","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th December 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Muse by Jessie Burton The Muse is a follow up novel to Jessie Burton\u2019s very successful first novel The Miniaturist, which has previously been reviewed by the Page Turners. The story is told in two timelines and centres on two creatively gifted young women, Olive Schloss an artist in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6062,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6062","url_meta":{"origin":13580,"position":4},"title":"Sebastian Barry -Days Without End","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th June 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Sebastian Barry -Days Without End The novel is narrated by Thomas McNulty, an Irish emigrant who flees to Canada and then America to escape the Great Famine. In America he befriends John Cole and the two form a close relationship, working first, as young boys, cross-dressing entertainers and then enlisting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8715,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8715","url_meta":{"origin":13580,"position":5},"title":"Where the Crawdads Sing\u2019 by Delia Owens","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Where the Crawdads Sing\u2019 by Delia Owens After the success of last month\u2019s inaugural Page Turners Walking Books meeting, the group met outside once more, following appropriate social distancing guidelines, to discuss their latest book. The venue this time was Cold Knap in Barry. There were spectacular views across the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/crawdads.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13580"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13580"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13582,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13580\/revisions\/13582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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