BOOK CLUB
THE REDEEMED
Tim Pears, Bloomsbury, $32.99
It’s fair to say that if the opening chapter of a novel is a minutely detailed account of one young sailor’s part in a military battle in 1916, then the readers are going to be mostly males. That’s why I recommend female readers begin at Part Two. There’s a list of who’s who at the front of the book, so it’s easy to identify the various characters.
Part Two carries the story forward and explores the blossoming of 16-year-old Lottie, who persuades the local vet, Patrick Jago, to take her on as his assistant. In 1916 in the UK this was highly unusual. Lottie has to disguise herself as a boy in order to be accepted by the local farmers as the veterinarian’s young partner. Pears inserts us into a
