What a terrible mess we can make of our lives. There should be angel police to stop us at these dangerous moments, but there don’t seem to be. So all we’re left with, is whether we can forgive, be forgiven, and keep trying our best.

It is October 1966 and nineteen year old William Lavery is attending his graduation dinner from the Thames College of Embalming when news of the Aberfan landslide tragedy is delivered. Embalmers are needed and William volunteers. The landslide buried a school and surrounding houses. He arrives to total carnage, and is immediately thrown into the deep end. ‘Now listen William, the help we can give these people is not complicated. We do our job. We do it well, we do it quickly and we leave. We’re not priests, or friends or family. We’re embalmers. Keep your head down and your heart hard. That’s your kindness.’ What he witnesses that night will effect his life forever.

This book is ultimately a study of PTSD and the effect such trauma can have on a life. I felt the earlier ’trauma’ that William experiences when a chorister in Cambridge is underwhelming and someone at some point should have told him to get over himself!

I learnt a lot from this book: about embalming (which is rarely done in Australia) and about music and specifically singing in a choir. I recommend having a listen to a recording of Myfanwy and Miserere mei, preferably sung by a boy’s choir as they both play an important role in William’s story.