Focusing on the struggles and growth of William, a young embalmer, and the impact the Aberfan disaster of 1966 has on his already delicate life, A Terrible Kindness is the debut novel from Jo Browning Wroe. She spoke to Gwil Williams about her inspirations, the themes of the story and her future plans.
A Terrible Kindness is your debut novel. Have you had this story in the making for some time, or has this been a recent idea?
Well, I was reading a report in some conference papers, one of which had an embalmer talking about his coordination of the volunteers who’d come to assist in the cleanup of the Aberfan disaster. I had no idea, so I was suddenly pulled in. I even managed to interview two of the embalmers who’d been there.
Although you grew up in Birmingham and currently reside in Cambridge, you’ve chosen to focus much of your story on Wales. Why Aberfan? Did you worry about the reaction given its importance to the Welsh community?
People did suggest I create a fictitious disaster instead, but for me, the stories of those embalmers were so rooted in Aberfan. So, obviously, I had to make sure I depicted the event with as much respect as possible. Also, it was very much a story from an outsider’s perspective. Coming in, helping in this terrible situation and leaving, impacted.
And with every word I wrote, I was trying to do it with respect for the Welsh audience. I also asked my Welsh in-laws to read over it, to ensure that it was done sensibly. I felt enormous responsibility. Luckily, the response from Wales was great. When the Welsh press said that the novel didn’t appropriate or invade the experience of Aberfan, I read that and I almost felt like, [gasps] “OK, I can breathe.”
Sexuality is one of the secondary themes that runs throughout your story, in parallel with other themes like friendship and familial relationship, especially between the main character and his friend. Why choose to incorporate this theme, especially given the time period?
I can’t really remember which point I decide to introduce that, but homosexuality has always been a part of my life in some way, just like everyone else. Me and my husband lived and had our first child while living with a gay friend. And I’ve always enjoyed the works of Armistead Maupin. So that idea of both heterosexual and homosexual people being and working together is something I’ve tried to compact and depict grounded in reality. It is very much in my background and awareness.
Death is featured a lot in the story, given the disaster, the characters’ work and childhood.
I grew up in a crematorium, so I was always surrounded with death and the deceased. Every day, I saw up to 20 funerals passing my kitchen window, so I was very aware of death and its inevitability. I was also very aware of the undertaking industry and admired those who worked in it. People whose job is to stand right next to the dead and their mourners – that’s a hard thing to do and it takes a toll. I wanted to pay tribute to those people, who do things most of us don’t know about and probably try to ignore.
As part of my research, I witnessed an embalmer. I was worried because I’m a fainter, but I needed to know and depict the work in detail. And the embalmer talked to the body throughout the procedure and he said he always did this. It just showed to me respect. And even I found myself addressing the body after all the cosmetics were done. I found myself joining in.
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Any further plans at present – can we expect another book on the shelves or are you content with your creation?
I very much don’t want to be a one-hit-wonder – I want to get as many novels out there in the time I have left. I signed my deal with Faber 19 months ago, and I got good advice from both my editor and agent: they said, “Now’s the time to get one with the next one.” So I do have a first draft in the making and I have plans to get it to my agent by Christmas… which will come very quickly, I think!
Is it in the same genre, period and focusing on the same characters, or something new?
This will be set a little later – the 70s rather than the 60s. There might be a crematorium but it will be a completely different story to this one.
Before this novel, your writing had been for educational publishing. Would you still want to work with that or are you shifting toward this kind of writing?
Well, I think this has always been my goal. I worked as an editor in educational publishing for 12 years and while trying to write this novel, I’ve been supporting myself by writing educational books. And that’s a really lovely thing. You start them and finish them in a few weeks, and teachers really like them, so I’m grateful I’ve got that aspect as well. But most of my heart is in the novel writing. I still have relationships with several educational publishers and I love writing collaboratively, so I won’t rule it out completely.
Do you have any advice for any budding writers out there?
I will say exactly what I say when I teach my courses in creative writing. If you want to be a writer, you are the best thing you can bring to your writing. Nobody else on the planet can write what you can write. Nobody has your experience, your imagination, your associations. That’s incredibly empowering, to think you have everything you need. So next, you need to understand what your vision is and dedicate yourself to improving the craft of writing well, so you can communicate it as best you can. But you’ve got everything you need already.
A Terrible Kindness is published by Faber, price: £14.99. Info: here
Jo Browning Wroe is on Twitter here.
words GWIL WILLIAMS