Tag: WW1

#BookReview The Redeemed by Tim Pears

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The RedeemedAbout the Book

It is 1916. The world has gone to war, and young Leo Sercombe, hauling coal aboard the HMS Queen Mary, is a long way from home. The wild, unchanging West Country roads of his boyhood seem very far away from life aboard a battle cruiser, a universe of well-oiled steel, of smoke and spray and sweat, where death seems never more than a heartbeat away.

Skimming through those West Country roads on her motorcycle, Lottie Prideaux defies the expectations of her class and sex as she covertly studies to be a vet. But the steady rhythms of Lottie’s practice, her comings and goings between her neighbours and their animals, will be blown apart by a violent act of betrayal, and a devastating loss.

In a world torn asunder by war, everything dances in flux: how can the old ways life survive, and how can the future be imagined, in the face of such unimaginable change? How can Leo, lost and wandering in the strange and brave new world, ever hope to find his way home?

Format: Paperback (400 pages)    Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication date: 13th June 2019 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Shortlisted for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2020, The Redeemed is the final book in Tim Pears’s West Country trilogy. The first two books in the trilogy – The Horseman and The Wanderers – made the longlists for The Walter Scott Prize in 2018 and 2019 respectively.  The Redeemed continues the stories of Leo Sercombe and Lottie Prideaux from the previous two books; the events in their lives being told in parallel and only converging at the end of the book.

Part one of the book recounts Leo’s experiences serving in the Navy aboard a coal-powered battle cruiser, during which he witnesses the Battle of Jutland and its deadly aftermath. Meanwhile Lottie, much to the dismay of her father’s new wife, has become assistant to the local vet, learning how to treat sick farm and domestic animals. It’s a changing world in which conscription has robbed estates, like those owned by Lottie’s father, of farm workers but there is also the possibility of new opportunities for women. Lottie’s ambition is to study veterinary science but all that is put at risk by a violent act from a quite unexpected quarter.

In the mistaken belief that his future lies elsewhere, part three of the book sees Leo, now a qualified diver, employed in a bold scheme to raise the battleships scuttled by the German navy in Scapa Flow at the end of the war. Leo undertakes this dangerous work to pursue his dream of earning enough money to purchase a piece of land where he can return to his first love, working with horses. Despite everything, he keeps alive the hope that he will be able to fulfil a promise made long ago.

Each part of the book contains an immense amount of detail: about daily life aboard a battleship, the care of horses and cattle, or the steps needed to float a submerged ship. Flowing throughout the book, however, is a deep sense of the natural world.  Eventually, the stories of Leo and Lottie converge and what follows is touching and intensely moving both for its intensity and its transcience.

The Redeemed is like a long train journey where, whilst you’re keen to reach your destination, there’s also immense joy to be found in watching the beautiful scenery go by.

In three words: Lyrical, moving, immersive

Try something similar: The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason

Time Pears authorAbout the Author

Born in 1956, Tim Pears grew up in Devon and left school at sixteen. He worked in a wide variety of unskilled jobs: trainee welder, assistant librarian, trainee reporter, archaeological worker, fruit picker, nursing assistant in a psychiatric ward, groundsman in a hotel & caravan park, fencer, driver, sorter of mail, builder, painter & decorator, night porter, community video maker and art gallery manager in Devon, Wales, France, Norfolk and Oxford.

Always he was writing, and in time making short films. He took the Directing course at the National Film and Television School, graduating in the same month that his first novel, In the Place of Fallen Leaves, was published, in 1993. In the Place of Fallen Leaves was awarded the Hawthornden Prize and the Ruth Hadden Memorial Award.

Tim’s second novel, In a Land of Plenty, was made into a ten-part drama series for the BBC broadcast in 2001. Other novels include  A Revolution of the Sun, Wake Up, Blenheim Orchard, Landed and Disputed Land. Landed was given the MJA Open Book Award and was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

In the Light of Morning was a departure, set in Yugoslavia in the Second World War. Tim then embarked on his most ambitious work, a trilogy of novels (The Horseman, The Wanderers and The Redeemed) set before, during and in the aftermath of the First World War.

Tim is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. (Bio credit: Author website/Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

Connect with Tim
Website | Goodreads

#BookReview Becoming Alfie by Neil Patterson

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Becoming Alfie

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Becoming Alfie by Neil Patterson. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to the author for my digital review copy. Do check out the posts by my tour buddies for today, Jasmine at Jazzy Book Reviews and Vikkie at Little Miss Book Lover.

Becoming AlfieAbout the Book

Alfie Norrington was born into poverty in London’s East End in the first minute of the twentieth century. His life was a battle. From the Brick Lane markets where young Alfie pilfered and pick-pocketed, to the trenches of Flanders, Alfie fought every step of the way.

​Almost killed by a trench bomb he battled to recover and while in a military hospital Alfie made a promise that dramatically changes his life. A true East End hero, Alfie begins his journey away from poverty armed with a robust moral compass and an open heart.

​Becoming Alfie is the first in the Alfie Norrington series. It follows the life of a man who positively influenced thousands of people. The world needs more individuals like Alfie Norrington, that give much more than they take.

Format: Paperback, ebook (288 pages)  Publisher: Green Hill Publishing
Publication date: 24th August 2020       Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Becoming Alfie on Goodreads

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My Review

The first in a planned four book series, Becoming Alfie tells the story of Alfie from the very moment of his birth in a tenement in the East End of London to his departure for pastures new.

The Norringtons are an East End family typical of similar novels: the matriarch who’s a “diamond”, the feckless father, and the brother whose moneymaking schemes risk coming to the notice of the ‘Old Bill’ or unfriendly rivals. The author tells the story with gusto, creating a distinctive narrative voice for Alfie, complete with Cockney accent and liberal use of slang. This is a feature not only of the dialogue but also some of the descriptive passages; people visit one another’s “gaff” or get “dolled up” for a night out.

Alfie makes a plucky and resilient hero who has to overcome many challenges and setbacks. I did wonder if, even with the benefit of modern medicine, Alfie could have survived the sort of injury he suffers in Flanders and resumed his life with such energy. However, I placed my trust in the author’s research and that soldiers of the First World War did suffer injuries of that severity and still make a full recovery. I liked that the author incorporated into the storyline the psychological impact of war, the lack of recognition and understanding this received at the time, and the benefit of more enlightened therapies in aiding recovery. The book also recounts the up and downs of Alfie’s love life, although some of his amorous adventures were described a little too explicitly for my taste.

The end of the book sees Alfie setting off to fulfil a promise. “What next? What lay around the corner? Alfie didn’t know, but he did know that it would be exciting, that he would be successful, and that whatever life threw at him, he could handle it.” Writing a saga is an ambitious undertaking but, in Alfie Norrington, the author has created a character whose future exploits I’m sure many readers will wish to follow.

In three words: Spirited, dramatic, optimistic

Try something similar: Fred’s Funeral by Sandy Day

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Neil PattersonAbout the Author

Neil writes: ‘Born in South Essex close to the River Thames and directly East of London, my childhood was peppered with memories of the mighty river itself. We would swim, fish and discover hidden treasure in the tidal mudflats with the fragments of clay pipes we found taking us back to another era. It was here that my inspiration for writing was born. I began to keep a diary of my observations from life and documented my feelings and thoughts.

My wife was twenty two and I was twenty four when we migrated to Australia with a glorious expectation. The sun was shining, the people were friendly and Sydney Harbour simply magnificent. Together we were committed to making the most of this opportunity beginning the next step in our lives. Everything was new which gave me endless writing opportunities that I recorded in my diary which had spilled over into a number of books. We travelled around this incredible country meeting people from all walks of life and from many nationalities. We lived and worked in a variety of capital cities enjoying each and every experience. All this was tremendous fodder for my writing. I began to write short stories and poetry, none of which I sought to publish. By my fifty second birthday I was able to finish working and focus full time on my writing.’

Connect with Neil
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