Book Review: The Redemption

Review by Roseanna White   

A novel by MaryLu Tyndall  

The sparkling turquoise waters of the Caribbean, the thrill of adventure on the high seas, and the romance of two souls torn between love and revenge. . . in M. L. Tyndall’s The Redemption, we get pirate fever with a Christian twist, and the result is a novel that keeps the pages turning and the anticipation high.

The story starts with Charlisse Bristol, a young English lady fleeing the harsh abuse of her uncle (a highly respected bishop) in search of the father she has never known.  From the letters her mother had read her before her death, Charlisse knew that Edward Bristol was a merchant captain who made his home in Port Royal.  Armed only with dreams of fatherly love and a need to escape, she sets out on her own and soon finds herself shipwrecked and marooned on an uninhabited island.  The days burn into weeks as she struggles to survive, and by the time she awakes one morning to the sounds of human life, she is desperate enough to sneak into the pirate camp for the promise of food.

Captain Edmund Merrick, pirate-turned-buccaneer and scoundrel-turned-Christian, doesn’t quite know what to do with the half-starved girl who first tries to steal his dinner and then promptly collapses in a fever.  He felt the hand of the Lord leading him when he came to this island to clean the hull of his ship, The Redemption, but as Charlisse grows stronger and confesses that she was bound for Port Royal before her ship went down, he realizes she is also one of the biggest temptations he has faced since he came to the Lord.  Her beauty is unsurpassed, and as he takes her under his protection — fighting his unruly crew every step of the way — he has to fight his old desires at every turn, too.  And what’s more, her very presence puts his goal to hunt down the most fearsome pirate in the Caribbean in serious jeopardy.

They eventually make it to Port Royal, but once there Charlisse finds that her father isn’t exactly who she had thought he was, and Merrick finds himself in jail, on charges of piracy that he did not commit.  He struggles to give over control to the Lord and she to maintain the faith that is so new in her heart. . . and both of them have to fight for the love that neither had ever expected to find with the other. 

The Redemption is a wonderful story with fast-paced action, soul searching introspection, and brushes of the miraculous that make the heart swell.  I loved the fact that these characters were realistic — Merrick still bore the mark of his past in the form of lusts for women and drink, which he had to stomp down again and again, and Charlisse had a hard time trusting anyone after the way she had been treated by her uncle.  I was also very much drawn in by the manifestations of the spiritual battles going on within Charlisse.  To my mind hey made her search for and clinging to faith something tangible and nearly frantic.

Overall, I would deem The Redemption a must-read for anyone with a love for a good story, historical pieces in general, pirate works in particular, or just a wish to get away to a tropical paradise for a few hours.  I’m looking forward to the next installment in the series . . . and longing for a nice, warm Jamaican breeze.

Review provided by the Christian Review of Books

Their website can be found at www.christianreviewofbooks.com

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