RedLegs by Chris Dolan Spotlight!

The Pigeonhole is serializing Redlegs in partnership with Vagabond Voices. Click here for more information about Vagabond’s edition of the book.

“[Redlegs is] an engrossing and compelling novel. The picture of island life is vivid, the characterisation of the principal personages convincing, the elaboration of the narrative moving. As in many really good novels, there are small scenes which stick in the memory” – Scotsman

“A powerful, disturbing tale, written with scrupulous care both for words and their hidden meanings” – Independent

“A compelling tale” – The Skinny 

“A gripping piece of work... Beautiful, rich prose that evokes a place, a sense of time and the beat of Elspeth’s (the protagonist’s) heart” – Sunday Herald

About the Book

Elspeth, a young Scottish actress, is selected by the elusive impresario Lord Coak for an acting career on the Caribbean Island of Barbados. She is briefly feted by the island community, but a tempest kills her lover and destroys the theatre in which she was to star. She is obliged to take on a supposedly temporary and fairly ambiguous role at Lord Coak's plantation home. The closed environment of the estate is stifling, but it institutionalizes her and gives her a degree of status. Dolan's plot is full of unexpected twists but they never free Elspeth from the constrictions of working for an enterprise whose founding principle is racism. It is a world in which there is an oppressive sense of eventlessness. Clearly Lord Coak s grand plan to modernize the estate cannot be implemented without social reform, but the resulting suspension of lives is also perhaps the human condition: our dreams can never be realized. Another catastrophic event breaks the spell and divides the community, many of whom leave in search of a more enlightened society and in so doing become a mythical people. However Elspeth and the reader remain locked into Lord Coak's estate, which starts to decay its shipwrecked people.

About the Author

Chris Dolan writes for page, stage and screen. An early short story won the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday Competition, and Poor Angels and Other Stories was shortlisted for the Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award in 1995. A second collection of stories, Hour After Hour, was published in 2008. Other stories have appeared in various magazines and anthologies and have been broadcast on BBC Radio. His first novel, Ascension Day, won the McKitterick Prize. His non-fiction books include An Anarchist’s Story: The Life of Ethel Macdonald and John Lennon: The Original Beatle. He is also author of the novels Potters Field and Aliyyah, published by Vagabond Voices.

Read an Extract Here:  https://thepigeonhole.com/books/redlegs/reader/extract