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Start giftingRuby’s Spoon
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Learn moreIn the heart of Black Country, England, Cradle Cross is a town out of time, an isolated pocket of the country whose customs and views have remained intact since medieval times. In 1933, the town is still reeling from the Great War and dominated by a button factory in terminal decline. Into this exotically grim environment arrives Isa Fly, a mysterious white-haired young woman from the coast. Isa is a magnetic presence who exerts a romantic pull on everyone she meets. Ruby Tailor, motherless and thirteen years old, is instantly drawn to her; as is Captin, the proprietor of the local chip shop, a fifty-year-old bachelor and father figure to Ruby; and Truda Blick, the Oxford-educated spinster who’s inherited the failing button factory. But Isa is viewed with increasing suspicion by the tight-knit women of Cradle Cross, who come to see her as the cause of the town’s accelerating misfortunes and, ultimately, fear her as a witch.
Anna Lawrence Pietroni grew up outside of Birmingham, England. She graduated with a first class degree from Oxford and worked for several years in the British prison system before turning to writing. Ruby’s Spoon was her first novel.
JOHN LEE's highly innovative work in the fields of emotional intelligence, anger management, and emotional regression has made him an in-demand consultant, teacher, trainer, coach, and speaker. His contributions in the fields of recovery, relationships, men’s issues, spirituality, parenting, and creativity have put him in the national spotlight for over 20 years. Lee has been featured on Oprah, 20/20, Barbara Walters’ The View, CNN, PBS, and NPR. He has been interviewed by Newsweek, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and dozens of other national magazines and radio talk shows. For over 25 years, Lee has conducted private and group sessions on a variety of issues working with men, women, couples, and families. He lectures, gives workshops and trainings in cities all over the world, delivering sensitive, yet sophisticated material to audiences in a humorous and simple way everyone can understand. His lectures have been branded as “hilariously entertaining, deeply compassionate, yet filled with ‘tell it like it is!’” Lee served as a professor at the University of Texas and at the University of Alabama before becoming a writer, bestselling author, life coach, and personal consultant. He currently resides on breathtaking Lookout Mountain in Mentone, Alabama with his three happy dogs
Reviews
“Mystery, witchcraft, and a precocious young narrator enliven Pietroni’s debut…Ruby is one of those bright narrators whose insights into the treacheries of the adult world are heartrending…Fans of Hardy, Dickens, and, more recently, Michel Faber and Sarah Waters will find much to enjoy.”
“Absorbing and suspenseful; vibrant local color and threads of mysticism add a fresh twist as well…With her first novel reminiscent of the works of Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Dickens, Pietroni is a talent to watch. Fans of literary and modern historical fiction will enjoy this offering.”
“This enthralling, suspenseful debut novel…has the feel of a grim fairy tale…Of the many riches it offers, it is the winning lead character, a lonely teen brave enough to have a dream despite her impoverished circumstances, who will capture readers’ hearts.”
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