So, into each hand Ma Tante put a teeny black doll.no bigger than a child's pinkie. Still, it was a sin not to paddle your boat, even in a lake of fire. She'd made them up quick when she'd smelt the children coming through the rain. What difference could it make? Didn't have the juice time would have fed them.

In fact, it seemed that only one other individual in town-Miss P who ran the local store, had an ounce of goodness! The town of Liberty certainly was not filled with individuals free.to be.in the light. If it were not for Ephram and the relationship he began with Ruby, I would have stopped reading altogether. While I recognize that it is very well written and certainly deserves a top rank and undoubtedly has a place in Black History, I still find that I could not wholeheartedly recommend it to all readers.unless you are willing to confront the powerful, dark images that will grow worse as the story moves forward. Latest book selected for the Oprah Book Club. This is an extremely dark book and I urge you to read other reviews-pro and con-if you have not yet read the book. At times, the content got to be so overwhelming that I had to stop reading. I shared a story he had written entitled, Miss Ruby.Īs I read the story by Cynthia Bond and met Ephram, I realized that my vision of Spencer matched the personality of the male main character. When I first saw the title of this book, I immediately thought of a story by my dear online friend, Spencer Turnage, who I still miss after his death. Stools outside P & K.They had all watched, Lanoline and then slip her feet, one by oneīut instead, with each passing year.he satĪlongside the crowd of men parked on their Soapy water, cream them with sweet oil and Nothing more than to put each tired sole in his Take it and walk away with her acres of legsĬarrying her, while Miss P said, 'You come onīack tomorrow, Ruby Bell, and help me outĮphram Jennings had watched this for eleven The brown sack filled with steaming yeast bread. Of her door and say, 'Honey, can you see if IĮphram watched Ruby stare past her but take Proprietor of the store, walk nonchalantly out P & K Market, stand pillar still, her rain cloudīody shaking. Ought to have been then five steps away from Seen her walking like she had some place she She'd turned the corner in view of the two. Hands over the crust of her hair each day before He had seen her wipe the spittleįrom her jerking lips, run her still beautiful Since she'd returned to Bell land in 1965. Passing like a haint through the center of town

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