I feel like I'm being stingy here and there were things I really enjoyed about this book but one fatal flaw means I can't rate it any higher.

I HATED William. He was so weak and pathetic. And not a nice person. Apparently we can forgive that because he has a nice voice and sings to dead people. I hated what she did with him. He had some beautiful characteristics but the boy and man she turned him into was mean and weak. The boy that was written in these pages wouldn't't have gone to Aberfan in the first place.

And the weight that he carries - that makes him so small - it isn't Aberfan in the first instance, though it becomes an easy excuse for his unpleasantness. It's a ridiculous non-event that wouldn't even make it into the top ten of most people's awful experiences (the 'drama' at the chapel).

He solves the issue with his mum in half a page. And I get the nuances - and some of that exploration is great, and really beautifully dealt with - grief, and spite and jealousy - but the main events in this book don't carry the weight of those things. Most of the issues I had with William could have been nullified if there was more made of his grief - but it's not there. His issues seem to stem entirely from embarrassment and shame.

I struggle with books where bad things happen because people don't deal with them, especially if there's no real unpicking of that. This novel dealt briefly with his mum's grief - though it appeared to make apologies for her homophobia - but didn't delve into it in a meaningful way. Just jealousy.

I also found the treatment of the homeless people rather questionable - described insensitively, not explored in any way other than as a foil for William's recovery, and a reminder of how wholesome Martin is (and he was, I enjoyed him).

The parts that dealt with Aberfan were well written, I cried within the first few paragraphs. I RARELY cry when reading. But it lost its way for me after that.