Review: Ruby by Cynthia Bond

Ruby by Cynthia Bond

Publisher: Two Roads Books

Release date: 10 February 2015

Rating: *** and a half

Back cover blurb: Ephram Jennings has never forgotten the beautiful girl with the long braids running through the piney woods of Liberty, their small East Texas town. Young Ruby Bell, “the kind of pretty it hurt to look at,” has suffered beyond imagining, so as soon as she can, she flees suffocating Liberty for the bright pull of 1950s New York. Ruby quickly winds her way into the ripe center of the city--the darkened piano bars and hidden alleyways of the Village--all the while hoping for a glimpse of the red hair and green eyes of her mother. When a telegram from her cousin forces her to return home, thirty-year-old Ruby 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 again, Ruby struggles to survive her memories of the town’s dark past. Meanwhile, Ephram must choose between loyalty to the sister who raised him and the chance for a life with the woman he has loved since he was a boy.

Ruby Bell is a crazy lady, or at least thats what the residents of Liberty, a small East Texas town would have you believe. Ephram Jennings doesn't follow the crowd, which displeases his sister immensely. But Ephram has been in love with Ruby since they were young together.

Ruby sadly is not aware of Ephram's love for her. She has only recently returned to the small religious community of Liberty, from years away in New York. She is not used to the claustrophic atmosphere after so long away and barely speaks a word to anyone.

But there are rumours being spread about Ruby, some very unsavoury rumours. Not that Ephram pays them any attention, once he has finally plucked up the courage to go to Ruby, then there is no turning back. They will face the world together. Whatever that may mean.

For me Ruby is a novel of two halfs, the first had me gripped not wanting to stop reading, but the second left me confused, and wondering if I had gone mad. It's difficult to put in to words without giving away too much of the plot, but I think I just found the latter half of the novel a little overwhelming.

I deliberated for a long while over how many stars to give Ruby, for the first half of the novel was definitely a four star read as Ephram and Ruby are re-discovering each other, but it was sadly (for me at least) let down by the latter half, hence the three and a half star rating.

It is an intriguing novel, of that there is no doubt, but I think it will divide opinion, and for that reason alone I can see why it is a popular choice for book clubs etc. 

Don't take my word for it though, give it a go and see what you think!

Ruby is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

      Thank you to Weekend Reads who sent me a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.  

Review: Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry

Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry

Publisher: Two Roads Books
Release date: 4 June 2015
Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: New  York, 1895. It's late on a warm city night when Sylvan Threadgill, a young night soiler who cleans out the privies behind the tenement houses, pulls a terrible secret out from the filthy hollows: an abandoned newborn baby. An orphan himself, Sylvan was raised by a kindly Italian family and can't bring himself to leave the baby in the slop. He tucks her into his chest, resolving to find out where she belongs. Odile Church is the girl-on-the-wheel, a second-fiddle act in a show that has long since lost its magic. Odile and her sister Belle were raised in the curtained halls of their mother's spectacular Coney Island sideshow: The Church of Marvels. Belle was always the star-the sword swallower-light, nimble, a true human marvel. But now the sideshow has burnt to the ground, their mother dead in the ashes, and Belle has escaped to the city. Alphie wakes up groggy and confused in Blackwell's Lunatic Asylum contd...

Church of Marvels is a very impressive debut novel and it is particularly exciting for me as a fan of historical fiction to discover a talented new author.

The novel opens in 1895 Coney Island; Odile is missing her twin-sister Isabelle (Belle) who has run off (quite literally) to Manhattan following a fire in the building that housed 'the Church of Marvels' their Mother's spectacular side show.

Odile is working under a new boss, in a new sideshow as the Spinning girl on the Wheel of Death, but she is mourning the loss of her Mother in the fire, and pondering over a letter from Belle. In short, she is not concentrating on her routine. So when she is injured she sees it as a perfect excuse to pack up her things and attempt to find her sister.

When Sylvan, a night soiler, finds an abandoned baby inside one of the privies he is attending to, he is determined to find the child's mother, for he does not believe that she meant to abandon her child, and he is sure that something has happened to make her act in this way.

Alphie upon waking up in lunatic asylum knows something terrible has taken place, something that she can barely remember being a part off. Yet she knows it must have for her to end up there. An encounter will a fellow 'inmate' leaves her reeling, but determined to escape back to normality as she knows she is not insane.

At first you wonder how these characters lives can possibly be linked, but as the novel progresses it becomes much clearer. The descriptions of the less than savoury areas New York/Manhattan and the horrors of the lunatic asylum are vivid, honest and brilliant.

I don't want to give too much more away, as this is most definitely a novel you have to discover for yourself. But I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to see what Leslie Parry has in store next.

Church of Marvels is available from 4 June 2015.

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online.

   

Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.