Seventeen-year-old Ruby Thomas, newly responsible for her two young nieces after a devastating tragedy, is determined to keep her family safe in the vast, swirling world of 1920s New York City. She’s got street smarts, boundless determination, and one unusual skill: the ability to throw a ball as hard as the greatest pitchers in a baseball-mad city.From Coney Island sideshows to the brand-new Yankee Stadium, Diamond Ruby chronicles the extraordinary life and times of a girl who rises from utter poverty to the kind of renown only the Roaring Twenties can bestow. But her fame comes with a price, and Ruby must escape a deadly web of conspiracy and threats from Prohibition rumrunners, the Ku Klux Klan, and the gangster underworld.Diamond Ruby “is the exciting tale of a forgotten piece of baseball’s heritage, a girl who could throw with the best of them. A real page-turner, based closely on a true story” (Kevin Baker, author of Strivers Row).
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Based on the true story of a lady pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in exhibition play, this debut novel from nonfiction author Wallace (Grand Old Game) is a diverting sports tale. In 1923, 18-year-old New Yorker Ruby Lee Thomas is forced to raise her two small nieces, Amanda and Allie, after the 1918 Spanish influenza devastates her family. Blessed (or cursed) with elongated arms that make for blazing fastballs, the southpaw is hired by the Fantasyland Circus Sideshow as Diamond Ruby. The Jewish pitcher draws the violent attention of the Klan, but also the admiration of Babe Ruth (a pitcher early in his career), who teaches her a few new throws, and boxing champion Jack Dempsey. The Brooklyn Typhoons eventually sign Ruby to pitch, where her amazing feats stir trouble with a charismatic gangster angling to fix her games; subsequent clashes and close calls with Prohibition-era hoodlums generate as much drama as her distinctive baseball prowess. Sharply sketched, convincing historical characters like Ruth and Dempsey add to the considerable appeal of Wallace's gritty but fun period baseball tale. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“Comparisons to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn are not made lightly . . . wonderful, memorable . . . perfect.”
—Laura Lippman
"Diamond Ruby is the exciting tale of a forgotten piece of baseball's heritage, a girl who could throw with the best of them. A real page-turner, based closely on a true story." -- Kevin Baker, author of Strivers Row
“Diamond Ruby is a gem! Moving, fascinating, and ultimately exhilarating.
I loved it!” —S. J. Rozan, Edgar Award–winning author of The Shanghai Moon
"Diamond Ruby is a gem! From the first page I found myself caring deeply about Wallace's idiosyncratic characters, rooting for them as they made their way through a world so skillfully portrayed that though it was new to me I felt right at home. Moving, fascinating, and ultimately exhilarating. I loved it!" -- SJ Rozan, Edgar-winning author of The Shanghai Moon
"Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey may loom among the many appealing, larger-than-life characters who show up in this wonderfully fun novel of baseball and 1920's Brooklyn, but readers will be especially dazzled and charmed by Diamond Ruby herself. It really IS A Tree Grows in Brooklyn meets Ragtime! Joseph Wallace has walloped a homer right out of the park!" -- Katharine Weber, author of True Confections and Triangle
"Diamond Ruby is a very special book. The comparisons to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn are not made lightly: Joseph Wallace deserves that accolade and many more. Ruby is a wonderful, memorable character and Wallace's prose is a perfect match for her." -- Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of Life Sentences and What the Dead Know
“Lively and entertaining…includes all sorts of colorful characters and fascinating social history…the story of an unassuming, courageous young woman who uses the national pastime to become a pioneering heroine in a man’s world.”
--The Washington Post
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More About the Author
The best thing about being a writer is getting the chance to live inside the worlds I write about. For example, I spent so much time researching dinosaurs for my first book that I sometimes found myself looking over my shoulder for rogue Velociraptors. When I started writing about baseball history, I dreamed of sitting in the grandstands, watching old-time baseball deities in person. Finally, for my first novel, Diamond Ruby, I became immersed in New York City during one of the wildest eras in its history: the Roaring Twenties. Recreating that world allowed me to portray the great Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, and other real-life characters as I imagined them to be. Even more fun was the chance to place my teenage heroine, Ruby Lee Thomas, smack in the middle of a world bristling with gangsters, rum-runners, and hucksters. I loved following Ruby through those exciting, dangerous times--which is why I'm already writing her next adventure, set in Hollywood in 1927.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pitch Perfect!,
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This review is from: Diamond Ruby: A Novel (Paperback)
Set against the backdrop of New York in the 1920s, Joseph Wallace's novel DIAMOND RUBY tells the story of Ruby Thomas, who at 17 loses most of her family in a matter of weeks and is left to raise her young nieces alone. With work difficult to find and starvation constantly knocking at the door, Ruby does anything she can think of to keep body and soul together. All her life, she has worked secretly to perfect her unusual skill: throwing a baseball faster and more accurately than anyone else. Finding ways to make that skill marketable leads her first to Coney Island, then on to professional baseball.If Ruby is a 1920s David, then sexism, anti-semitism, organized crime, the Ku Klux Klan, and baseball itself are Goliath. Armed with a stone, she can put squirrel stew on the table. Armed with a baseball, she can conquer New York itself. Wallace's story is rich and textured. Ruby and her nieces, in particular, are beautifully drawn, each commanding a unique voice as she contributes to the story. The novel is full of strong women: Ruby's suffragist mother; her wise and compassionate sister-in-law Evie; her friend and fellow athlete, Helen; and her co-worker and companion, Tania. Each contributes in important ways to Ruby's journey. The author's love of New York and Brooklyn shines through as he writes the story of a city that can take a series of blows as tough as punches from Jack Dempsey, who plays a part in the story, and come back better and stronger. I don't pretend to know baseball all that well, but it's clear that Joseph Wallace does. When he writes about the game and brings its history to life, the passion he has already demonstrated in several non-fiction books about the history of baseball shines through. DIAMOND RUBY is a page-turner. I sat down with it after lunch on a Sunday afternoon and read until I turned the last page, long past time for dinner. I've already bought a second copy to lend to friends and given it as a gift to two other people. Read it; then tell someone else to. They'll thank you.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A real gem!,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Diamond Ruby: A Novel (Paperback)
Twitter's a funny thing. I first read about this book on Twitter, in the conversations between other authors and readers. Soon I was following this author ([...]) and the praise for the book continued. I finally bought it, expecting to read a tale of a gal who played baseball against Babe Ruth. What I got was a book that sucked me into its world. At once thoughtful, informative and entertaining, Diamond Ruby lives in a very real cross section of 1920s America. Filled with great period details, Wallace spins a yarn that ranges from the tragic to the triumphant. Some chapters had me grimacing while others left me with a big stupid grin on my face. One chapter in particular was absolutely exhilarating in pace, detail and service to the character - I was so enmeshed in Ruby's story that I shared her experience on the pitcher's mound. It was, quite simply, the most fun I've had reading a book in a long, long time. Thanks, Twitter, for pointing me to this gem of a novel.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a surprise!,
By
This review is from: Diamond Ruby: A Novel (Paperback)
To say I'm surprised that I really liked this book, let alone loved it, is an understatement. I'm not a sports fan and I don't know diddly about baseball. But I do love a well-told story, and let me just say that Diamond Ruby is a wonderful story that's very well told indeed!Ruby stole my heart--a bright and talented and sympathetic character, she beat the odds on a multitude of levels. Set against the backdrop of 1920s New York, this novel is rich in history, it is also human and heartfelt and uplifting. I'm particularly fond of stories where triumph rises from the ruins of adversity, and Diamond Ruby is just that. And more. Oh, so much more. Bravo, Mr. Wallace! Highly recommended for YA and adult readers alike.
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