Ruth

A New York Times Editors' Choice Pick 'It would never work out, but I'm in love with Ruth.'--Ron Charles, The Washington Post 'A wonderful, loving, tenderly teasing and often moving portrait ... a] standout.'--Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal 'There are inklings of greatness in Kate Riley's first novel... I suspect it will become an underground classic.'--Dwight Garner, The New York Times In this mesmerizing and profound novel, the arc of a woman's life in a devout, insular community challenges our deepest assumptions about what infuses life with meaning. Ruth is raised in a snow globe of Christian communism, a world without private property, television, or tolerance for idle questions. Every morning she braids her hair and wears the same costume, sings the same breakfast song in a family room identical to every other family room in the community; every one of these moments is meant to be a prayer, but to Ruth they remain puzzles. Her life is seen in glimpses through childhood,