Young embalmer, William Lavery’s first job after graduation is to assist after the tragic landslide in Aberfan, Wales, in October 1966, which saw a school buried along with everyone in it.
The book gives a glimpse of the training and work of an embalmer and the trend towards funeral directing being a family business. There is relatively little fiction that touches our work sphere as celebrants, but this one aligns because celebrants, embalmers and funeral directors have a typically brief yet deep connection with the clients they serve. However, for me this book was principally about grief. It didn’t particularly address the incredible grief that the villagers suffered, although their resilience was evident. Its focus was really on the various griefs in William’s personal life starting from age 11 when his father died. It showed how different family members coped, or didn’t.
If you are a singer or music-lover, another key strand of the book is the training and life of a chorister at the cathedral school in Cambridge. Boy sopranos have a brief but intensive opportunity to perform at their peak and formative friendships are hugely influential and their loss devastating. It found me thinking about what has changed since the 1960’s and whether grief is any better understood and supported now.