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Ruby's Spoon
  • Published: 15 April 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099540052
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $19.99

Ruby's Spoon

Formats & editions
EBook
1 July 2010
Paperback
15 Apr 2011
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Ruby's Spoon is a bold and bewitching debut set in the industrial Black Country of the 1930s. Anna Lawrence Pietroni's fiercely charismatic heroine blazes the arrival of a mesmerising new literary talent.

This is the tale of three women - one witch, one mermaid and one missing - and how Ruby was caught up in between.

The Black Country town of Cradle Cross - home to buttonmakers, canal folk, and more than its share of widows - is bounded by canals, grief and superstition. Caught within this web is motherless thirteen-year-old Ruby, who dreams of escaping the soot and smoke of her home-town for the clear air of the sea. When a mysterious stranger named Isa Fly appears on a quest to find her dying father's missing wife and daughter, Ruby is enchanted.

But some of the townsfolk are instantly suspicious of the outsider and when Ruby introduces Isa to Truda Blick, the bluestocking graduate who has just inherited the town's button factory, the town is pushed to the brink of riot.

Only Ruby knows enough to save them. But first she must save herself.
  • Published: 15 April 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099540052
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $19.99
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About the author

Anna Lawrence Pietroni

Anna Lawrence Pietroni was born and brought up in the Black Country. She gained a First Class degree in English from Oxford University. She was training to be a prison governor before she turned to writing full-time. Anna Lawrence Pietroni lives in Oxford.
ALP

Praise for Ruby's Spoon

This enthralling, suspenseful debut novel...has the feel of a grim fairy tale. Of the many riches it offers, is the winning lead character...who will capture readers' hearts

Booklist (starred review)

A heartbreakingly realistic account of social upheaval and family tragedy... A spellbinding first novel, distinguished by unforgettable storytelling

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

I'm going to stick my neck out and predict prize-winning nominations for this debut novelist's astonishing first book

Lesley McDowell, Sunday Herald

In turns modern and folkloric, this is an ambitious and unique debut

Historial Novels Review

[A] grown up fairy tale... replete with folklore, revelling in character and dialect

Guardian

A charismatic coming-of-age tale glimmering with dark magic, lost families and closely guarded secrets

Marie Claire

A spirited and adventurous writer, Pietroni loves words and takes joy in story-telling... As well as dark secrets, concealed hatreds, ambiguous identities and tormented relationships, it is about a child in need of parents

Independent

One of the best first novels I have ever read

Susan Hill

A rich, tightly woven web... Ruby's Spoon is a book of dark near-realism, a study of complex family relationships and secrets in a world as pained and impoverished as it is fanciful

Oxford Times

Spirited

Catherine Taylor, Guardian

Pure delight to revel in ... rich and rare ... Anna Lawrence Petroni has a remarkable talent

Susan Hill, The Lady

A wonderful coming-of-age tale...she twists gritty realism with folklore themes in a truly mesmerising prose

Good Book Guide