![]() ![]() Most terrible is the Dybou, the spirit of Ephram’s father the Reverend Jennings, who introduced Ruby to prostitution when she was 8 years old. Ruby has powers to see spirits, especially the ‘haints’ (ghosts) of exploited and misused children. Ephram’s sister Celia, who baked the cake, sees Ruby as an instrument of the devil and forces the town to bring her brother back to her. ![]() Both his untypical assertive behaviour and the approach to Ruby are shocking and surprising to his fellow inhabitants of God-fearing Liberty. ![]() Only Ephram Jennings, who knew her in childhood, wants anything to do with her.Īfter an incident outside the town store (see below) he decides to take her a gift of cake. She returns to Liberty, and as the years pass she is reviled by everyone for her unconventional and anti-social behaviour. She worked for Mrs Barbara when she was young and left for New York in pursuit of her mother. Ruby Bell was one of the prettiest girls in Liberty, a black township in Texas. I feel as if I have read a great deal in novels and in newspapers about brutal and dehumanising behaviour especially towards women and the wretchedness of the lives of those at the bottom of the heap, yet this novel still managed to shock and move me. ![]() It was also selected by Oprah and has been a New York Times bestseller. Ruby by Cynthia Bond was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Fiction prize 2016. ![]()
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