Ruby
This novel is a portrait of man's dark acts and the promise of the redemptive power of love. Ephram Jenkins has never forgotten the beautiful girl with the long braids running through the piney woods of Liberty, their small East Texas town. Young Ruby, "the kind of pretty it hurt to look at," is already quite damaged, but Ephram is forcibly drawn to her. As soon as she becomes a young woman and has any power of her own, Ruby flees suffocating Liberty for the bright pull of 1950s New York City in search of her mother. Years later, when a funeral forces her to return home, 30-year-old Ruby Bell finds herself reliving the devastating violence of her girlhood. With the terrifying realization that she might not be strong enough to fight her way back out, Ruby struggles to survive her memories of the town's dark past. Meanwhile, Ephram must choose between loyalty to the sister who raised and stood by him and the chance for a life with the woman he has loved since he was a boy. He is determined to protect the woman he loves from the town desperate to destroy her. -- Provided by publisher.
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This novel was a bit of a mixed bag for me - I could certainly recognize and appreciate the great skill with which the author wrote this story. Her prose was quite lovely, and could be a delight to read in a different story. The problem I had with Ruby, however, was it's unrelenting darkness. Not only does nothing good happen to it's two main characters - it honestly seems like every possible bad things DOES happen, and it becomes difficult to read chapter after chapter. It became almost opressive, and while that may have been the author's intent, it did not make for a novel that I was excited to pick up. Because of the author's evident skill, however, I would give her work another try.
(I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)
