So, when things go wrong for him, when the flipside of those traits emerge, he finds himself in a safer place than he expects or recognises. The book was selected with the help of a panel of library staff from across the UK. Our readers loved A Terrible Kindness – here are some of their comments:

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe | Goodreads A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe | Goodreads

A Terrible Kindness is ultimately a tale of humanity, showing how love and compassion endures even in the most difficult of situations. A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe: Footnotes I may have made the book sound a difficult read; in fact, it’s anything but. I was completely engrossed and always wanted to read just a bit more. Wroe’s prose (in the present tense) is poised and unobtrusively brilliant, I think, so that everything from the strongest emotions to the feel of Cambridge in the early 70s (and I was there, so I know) is excellently but quietly done. Read about the Faber story, find out about our unique partnerships, and learn more about our publishing heritage, awards and present-day activity.And what’s really awful about that, is that we have since become used to mass murder in US schools. I find that a hard thing to know about myself even though it’s none of my doing. Browning Wroe easily evokes both setting and era with gorgeous descriptive prose and popular culture references. Her characters, realistically flawed, are worth investing in as they develop and change over the years: a mother so mired in grief and jealousy she is blinded to freely offered love; a boy too consumed by humiliation and resentment to show loyalty; a young man so traumatised he cannot look ahead in hope. Special mention must go to the recurrent musical threads of Myfanwy and Allegri’s Miserere mei, Deus which are so elegantly woven that only a hard heart would be unmoved.

Review: A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe - Nation.Cymru

The author gave an excellent introduction to and summary of the book in an interview with Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge where she is creative writing supervisor (having previously done an MA at the UEA in 2000 – in WG Sebald’s last year). As you can imagine, so many books cross my path at work that I never get the time to look into. This was one. She was inspired to write the book after hearing about the volunteer embalmers at Aberfan and ” wanted to find a way to tell a story that honoured and respected both them and the families so deeply affected by the disaster.” This beautifully written debut novel examines hopes and expectations, disappointments and misunderstandings, insecurities and fears. From boarding school dormitories to student lodgings, embalming rooms to the choir stalls of Cambridge, homemade biscuits to abandoned roast dinners – a vivid cast of characters and an incredible journey. Like a red tulip to Mum! I’m damned if I’m going to look for songs that aren’t about love and life and loss and pain and joy. This is being human.

Collaborative Blogs

There are moments when William takes solace — and paradoxically finds kindness — in the presence of the deceased. Taking care of them with tenderness and precision is an act that can’t be lost in translation. Their tacit acceptance of this compassion — his sense that he is doing good — confers healing to him.