Dear lovely Dubray readers,
First of all thank you for your patience. It has been three long years since Strange Sally Diamond was published and I’m sure you must have thought I’d gone into retirement, but finally, I’m back with a shiny new book called The Truth About Ruby Cooper.
If I was to sum up the book in one word, I might say blame or shame. The book deals with both and the consequences that play out over decades.
In the late 90s, sisters Ruby and Erin Cooper are growing up in Boston in a privileged and religious household. Their father is pastor of his own church and also an investment broker. Their stay-at-home Mom is an Irish immigrant who came to America in the dark days of the mid 70s, but is still fiercely connected to home.
The opening line of the book is ‘None of this would have happened if my sister hadn’t been beautiful.’ What has happened? And why is it Erin’s fault?
I invite you to join me as we follow Ruby (and Erin) across the years where we see her dramatically change physically and emotionally from the naïve virginal teenager we meet on page one into someone quite radically different.
When sixteen year old Ruby is involved in an incident with her sister’s boyfriend, the fallout is explosive, with tragic consequences for some, catastrophic outcomes for others and addiction and chaos for Ruby. The family explodes as one side flees to Dublin and the other remains to pick up the pieces in Boston.
I warn you that there will come a point or two in this book when you will want to hurl the book across the room in disgust at certain character’s actions (or at me!), but please pick it up again and bear with me. Comeuppances are coming. Perhaps the lies of the past must be paid for by the next generation? I leave you to decide.
Happy reading!
With love,
Liz
