This is the third novel in John's 'midlands trilogy'. The books feature several common characters whom we follow through the decades. The other stories are ' A love foretold', set in Birmingham in 1992/3 and 'Jail, bait and the hook', set in Shropshire in the mid-2010s. The inequity of redemption is the storey of Jann, who moves to Birmingham for work in 1986. He is alone and bored in a big new city and he gets involved in an affair with Beryl, a much older woman who works in the same office. She turns out to be controlling and vindictive and Jann finds himself increasingly isolated and manipulated. Then he meets Maggie at a party and events take a new course. She lives in Nottingham and she offers him an escape from his lover's clutches. Beryl reacts badly- and viciously. As well as exploring the dynamics of Jann's toyboy relationship, the novel also examines questions of religion, politics, privatisation, AIDs and relationships that bridge cultural and age differences.