Redemption Time is the enthralling story of a 16-year-old boy, William
Carpenter, from a reasonably privileged family who is told by his father
that the family has been hit by a major financial disaster. The family
home and land will have to be sold and he will have to leave his public
school as his father can no longer afford to pay the fees. In other
words, they are 'bust'.
What he does, having delved into the family archives and history, forms
the essence of the story taking him, as a deckhand, on a banana boat to
the West Indies. There, on the island of Barbados, on a chance meeting
on shore leave with a businessman, he discovers that his ancestor of 200
years ago who he knew had spent time there, had been one of the first
and most successful sugar planters. It was this ancestor who had made
the family fortune, now dissipated by his heirs and successors. On the
island, his ancestor's name is still a legend.
On the banana boat, his deckhand duties catches the eye of a passenger,
a self-made businessman and his wife taking a leisurely cruise as part
of a recovery programme from a heart attack. He mentions to Will to
contact him should he ever feel in need of a change or advice in the
future. After more voyages on the ship, Will decides that the time to
change has come and contacts his man, Mr Mallory. The offshoot is that
Mallory offers him a job but that is all. The rest, he says "Is up to
you"
Will's progress up the ladder to assistant manager of one of the leading
branches of the firm, to, a couple of years later, to be appointed to
start up a new branch of the business in Ireland, follows.
What happens in Ireland - the ups, downs and pitfalls of starting a new
business, together with his childhood knowledge and skill of riding a
horse, stands him in good stead with the locals and takes his love life
to a new level.
The prospect of a return to his Caribbean island, Barbados dawns and the
discovery of an underworld criminal enterprise. What happens if the
dream turns into reality or not forms the ultimate climax as to whether
his original decision to take the job as a deckhand was a good or bad
idea.
