Whatever the year has in store for me reading-wise, in terms of fiction it will be hard to find anything to match Tim Pears' The Redeemed.
The final part in his masterly West Country Trilogy builds on all the painstaking groundwork of the first two books. The Horseman set the scene, The Wanderers took young Leo away from the natural order and security of his Devon valley, now as the third part of the story begins it's wartime and he's at sea, his ship lying at anchor in the Firth of Forth; all hell is about to break loose. Back at home, Lottie Prideaux has grown up too, acquiring a degree of independence and humility as she begins her veterinary training and finds her place in a changing society. The two friends' paths have diverged and it is hard to see how they will ever cross again, but as the novel takes Leo and Lottie through the war and beyond, the lines of the epigraph (Isaiah, 43:1-2) point the way ahead.
The brilliance of Tim Pears' writing is in the steadiness of its rhythm and the evenness of its tone; this gives the book an internal stillness - whether it's a battle or a pastoral scene that is being described - and an integrity which holds the reader throughout. His approach is always thoughtful, fastidious even, balanced; it looks effortless, so organic is the development of each scene, each episode, but it stems from a sure grasp of pace and pitch combined with an affinity for and a deft handling of the very considerable material covered.
If you're looking for a masterclass in the novelist's art, read these books, but read them also for the deep pleasure of a solid story beautifully told, and a lyrical portrait of a lost age.
