Ruth

by Marlene S. Lewis

From the lush Owen Stanley Ranges of Papua New Guinea to working-class inner Sydney... Ruth follows the story of its protagonist, the only daughter of John and Alice Madison, coffee plantation owners. Set in the fifties and sixties, Ruth struggles to rise above the stigma of being an unwed mother alone in a strange land. Determined not to end up on the streets, she learns to live by her wits - until circumstances take a turn for the worse.
To provide a better life for her son, Stewart, she takes up work in a distant town. There, she meets Lachlan McGrath, the owner of Bryliambone station. Life on the land is good to Ruth until fate turns her world upside down. Faced with losing everything, she sets to rebuilding her husband's debt-ridden business into a thriving cotton farm.
Marlene is inspired by many authors, including Patricia Shaw, Maeve Binchy and Guy de Maupassant. Ruth has elements of Lloyd Jones' Mr Pip, Ruth Park's The Harp in the South and Patricia Shaw's The Feather and the Stone. The novel will appeal to readers interested in family relationships and cultural history.

• ISBN10: 1848766238
• ISBN13: 9781848766235
• Publish Date: 1 March 2012
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 26 May 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Troubador Publishing
• Imprint: Matador
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rinn]

Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

I have to admit, when I started out reading this book, I wasn't particularly looking forward to it. I'd just finished a load of sci-fi and fantasy and was very much in the mood for some more, and the blurb of this made me think it was going to be very depressing.
Whilst Ruth has a hard life - sometimes her misfortune just seems a little over the top - the book is not necessarily a depressing read. I actually really enjoyed it, the writing style was good and the story well developed, with some dark twists mixed in.
There was perhaps a little too much foreshadowing in some areas, which made it far too easy to guess what was going to happen, and the blurb gave away too much of the plot in my opinion, but apart from that it was a very good read. Ruth is a strong character, who could have easily been beaten down by the hardships she faces through her life, and I'm glad that she eventually gets a happy ending. I also liked the glimpse into life in (what is now) Papua New Guinea, as I don't really believe I've read any books set in that country, and I also think I've only read a few set in Australia. I particularly enjoyed the start of the book, I was not expecting a big plane crash to set the story up!

Overall, I was very impressed by this book. I started reading it thinking I wasn't going to enjoy it, not being a massive fan of books set during the 1950s, but it turned out to be a rather moving novel, portraying a young girl from her late teens to adulthood and the hardships she goes through, with some shocking twists. I don't remember spotting any typos or grammatical errors and the writing flowed very well.