Ruby Red [Hardcover]

Linzi Glass (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Puffin Books (July 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141382805
• ISBN-13: 978-0141382807
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,135,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa during the era of Apartheid. It always pained me that we lived in a country where there were the "haves" and "have nots" and although I was one of the fortunate ones it really upset me to see all the social injustice around me. The idea of writing about a dysfunctional family in a dysfunctional society and how love, in all it's many forms, would be the glue to mend such a fractured family and such a fragmented country came to me after I had left South Africa as a young adult and had settled in America. I do hope you enjoy my novel!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tender and inspiring, February 6, 2010

By 

Helen Simpson (Leeds, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ruby Red. Linzi Glass (Paperback)

With 215 pages this is a relatively short book, but it packs a lot into those pages.
It's 1976 and Ruby Winters is a 17 year old English school girl living in the South African suburbs of Johannesburg. She feels alienated from her school friends, and I felt the story drew parallels between how Ruby has to deal with this and the way others in the story have to deal with the racial inequality of the time.
From the first page you are drawn into Ruby's world, and along with her feel frustration and anger at the segregation and injustice that existed in apartheid South Africa. It's not overly heavy but it is powerful and touching with tender relationships and observations of love and friendship. For me it helped explain the relationships between not only blacks and whites but also between the English and the Afrikaans, touching on the Boer war and WWII briefly.
The tension is kept throughout, with the growing unrest and the danger of the police who are trying to itching to prove that Ruby's family are involved in illegal practices.
As well as an entertaining story I like to finish a book having learnt something, and having read this, I felt I did.