Redwork

Lori McLeod is a librarian with the Toronto Public Library.

Bedard received a 1990 Governor General’s Literary Award for this
book, a rich, multilayered novel for young people.

Fourteen-year-old Cass and his mother rent the top floor of an old
house from an elderly recluse, Arthur Magnus. Cass immediately senses
that the house holds secrets. Since his mother is preoccupied with
completing her thesis on William Blake, Cass faces the realities of
their financial desperation. To cover household expenses, he takes a
part-time job as an usher at a run-down movie theatre. There, the loner
Cass meets Maddy, a girl who lives on his street. Maddy tells Cass that
every evening Mr. Magnus goes into his garage to engage in some
mysterious activity. Neighborhood children believe that Mr. Magnus is a
witch, and that his nocturnal activities involve mixing potions and
casting spells. Cass and Maddy are determined to find out what Mr.
Magnus really does in his garage. They discover that he practices the
ancient science of alchemy. The two young people eventually win his
friendship and trust. Through alchemy, Mr. Magnus seeks to restore his
spiritual youth, of which he was robbed as a young man by the horrific
experience of war.

The novel’s strength lies in Bedard’s touching portrait of the
evolving friendship between the young people and Mr. Magnus. A
thoughtful, rewarding book for readers 12 and up.