Healing Ruby: A Novel

Healing Ruby: A Novel

Ruby Graves, a young girl in Depression-era Alabama, faces the hardships of poverty and loss with as much faith as she can muster. At only the age of thirteen, she’s already lost a younger brother to illness, and now faces losing both her father and the boy who’s stealing her heart to illnesses as well. Armed with her beloved Scriptures, she prays daily for their healing, only to have her tender faith shattered by her father’s death. Through her pain, she’s able to connect with her long-lost Uncle Asa, who’s mere presence at his brother’s funeral brings murmurs of a scandalous past involving her parents and a prominent local pastor, Irwin Cass. When Ruby discovers that one of Asa’a many secrets is an ability to heal, and that she may be next in line for the “gift,” she vows to find the faith that has eluded her so far, a faith that could mean never losing loved ones again. But faith and doubt can’t reside in the same heart, not according to her father, and doubt is Ruby’s constant companion. As she struggles to find the true meaning of faith, she’s opposed at every turn by the pastor who would see her family destroyed and a community that can’t see deeper than the color of one’s skin. Through her search for a faith that could move mountains and a true understanding of her gift, can Ruby trust in a God that may require the ultimate sacrifice? From Kirkus Reviews "A fast-paced story that will leave readers wondering what's next for Ruby Graves." " This soulful, often poignant novel explores difficult subjects such as death, racism and religious hypocrisy, while still remaining hopeful. One of its greatest strengths is its cast of well-drawn secondary characters, including the... vengeful preacher who tries to thwart Ruby at every turn. Ruby's unlikely friendship with a cast-out African-American woman and her child is a particularly bright spot in this often heavy novel." "Ruby is a typical young woman of her time, but then tragedy strikes her family repeatedly... In the wake of those tragedies comes a new understanding of her faith, and more questions than she can ever find answers to, among them mysteries in her family's past...Woven with scriptural references that and brutally frank regarding the treatment of people in the 1930s South, Westall's story also sounds notes of hope and faith that balance her portrayal. Insight into history and race relations enrich a textured narrative."- Booklife (Publisher's Weekly) "I was thrilled to read that this book is the first in a series because the character is well developed and the author has a gift for holding the reader's attention and making the pages turn. This book belongs in every middle school and high school library in the USA." -Judge, 23rd Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards