An audio book.
William has just qualified as an embalmer, staying (while he was studying) with Gloria's family. He'd loved her from the moment he'd seen her but they'd barely kissed. It's 1966. When the Aberfan disaster happens he dashes over there to help. His mother doesn't live far away but they've not seen each other for 5 years. He helps with getting the bodies identified, then uses "the fake heartbeat of his handpump" to embalm, while others are "massaging formaldehyde through a wrist." He works with Betty, a mother. He talks to the dead while preparing them. He phones Gloria to say that she deserves children but he's not the family type. We learn that his father died when he was young.
We go back to 1957. He's about 10, already fatherless. He's become a Cambridge chorister. His uncle Robert is his father's identical twin. Robert lives with "uncle" Howard. The twins and Howard ran an undertakers. William recalls when his father was still alive. His mother was upset that she couldn't tell her husband and Robert apart. William overheard his mother describe Robert as a homosexual, not knowing what that is. She didn't want William to join the family firm.
At school he's friends with Martin for 4 years. He stays with Martin's open-minded family at Xmas. He likes Martin's sisters - identical twins. Martin tries to sleep with him.
His mother moves to Swansea, expected him to go with her to continue in music. Instead he becomes interested in embalming. He doesn't like his mother's homophobia.
While William's staying with Gloria, Ray (who's on the same course as him) asks her out. She asks William if that's ok. He says yes and Ray gets her pregnant. A shotgun wedding is organised. She has a miscarriage. Ray goes away. 6 months later William and Gloria marry, living with Howard and Robert.
In ch 44 we're back at the start, at the phonecall. She's prepared to forget about having kids. Even after 3 years of marriage, he freaks out when given a baby to hold - Aberfan-related trauma. They visit Cambridge and by chance meet Martin. They become friends again. 2 years later he leaves her (thinking he's doing her a favour), staying with Martin. He helps Martin run a choir for troubled men.
We go back to the day of his final solo as a chorister - a disaster because he'd invited his mother, Howard and Robert. They didn't get on.
William's mother remarries. They reconsile on her wedding day. His mortician skills are useful - he helps her prepare her face. Gloria is at the service. She's pregnant. He thinks "wives aren't like mothers - they can stop loving". She and William drive to Aberfan the next day. At last he conquers his demons and is ready to be a father. All's ok.
The gutters of Trumpington Street feature, as does Mill Road cemetery. So do quads - but shouldn't they be courts? Maybe the characters get it wrong.
Other reviews
- Barney Norris (There is also a good deal of clunky writing throughout. Sentences such as “the roast pork … moved from William’s plate, to his mouth, to his stomach easily”, or “Ray’s baby is nestled inside her warm body”, sound like faltering translations, while the description “Aberfan is black, white or grey” will seem cursory to anyone who has seen images of the landslide. There are other difficult elements. A fair chunk of the book is preoccupied with the homophobia of the period, which is well drawn, but presented without comment, so that for sustained periods the reader is simply wading through pages of anti-gay prejudice; a strangely dated experience. More troubling still is the use of Aberfan, which is presented as an instigating incident, but by the end of the novel has been acknowledged to be actually quite incidental. ... Frankly, it feels a little tasteless – a tragedy bolted on to a conventional 1960s family saga)
- Judith McKinnon (As a reading experience, I felt I disengaged a little – you can get a little frustrated with William – and the story lags a little. But a little after the middle things pick up and I was pulled into the story again.)
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