Featured Book: Mama Ruby Prequel to the Upper Room
If you are a fan of Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston, you will love Mama Ruby and the writings of Mary Monroe!
How did Ruby and Othella Mae, from The Upper Room, come to be who they are today?
Find out in the exciting prequel to The Upper Room, titled Mama Ruby. There’s a fine line between best friend and worst nightmare…but there will be a reckoning....
New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe presents an unforgettable tale featuring Mama Ruby, the indomitable heroine of her acclaimed novel The Upper Room. Now readers will get a peek into Ruby’s early years, as she transforms from a spoiled small-town girl into one of the South’s most notorious and volatile women…
Growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, Ruby Jean Upshaw is the kind of girl who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. By the time she’s fifteen, Ruby has developed a taste for fast men and cheap liquor, and not even her preacher daddy can set her straight. Most everyone in the neighborhood knows you don’t cross Ruby. Only Othella Mae Cartier, daughter of the town tramp, understands what makes Ruby tick.
When Ruby discovers she’s in the family way, she’s scared for the first time in her life. After hiding her growing belly with baggy dresses, Ruby secretly gives birth to a baby girl at Othella’s house. With few choices, Othella talks Ruby into giving the child away and with the help of a shocking revelation, convinces Ruby to run off with her to New Orleans.
But nothing can erase Ruby’s memories of the child she lost or quell her simmering rage at Othella for persuading her to let her precious baby go. If there’s a fine line between best friend and worst nightmare, Ruby is surely treading it. Because someday, there will be a reckoning. And when it comes, Othella will learn the hard way that no one knows how to exact revenge quite like Ruby Jean Upshaw!
Publishers Weekly Book Review
Mary Monroe's prequel to The Upper Room reintroduces readers to Mama Ruby, a fierce and indomitable woman. This time Monroe focuses on Ruby's early adolescence as the youngest daughter of a preacher in 1930s Louisiana. While her parents shelter her from the harsh world, Ruby is eager for adult sensations, especially sex, and embraces her desire when she meets the promiscuous Othella and her brother, Ike. Ruby and Othella experiment with neighborhood boys and Ruby soon gets pregnant. Othella and her mother persuade her to give the baby up at birth, and doing so haunts Ruby forever. Ruby and Othella then flee small town life only to become prostitutes in New Orleans and take part in a killing. Though readers new to the series will have to accept the dialect, ever-present threat of violence, and explicit sex scenes, they'll appreciate the compelling period and the unapologetic characters. Familiarity with The Upper Room smoothes the way. (June)
Mama Ruby by Mary Monroe
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Dafina (June 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0758238614
ISBN-13: 978-0758238610
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
Purchase from Black Expressions
Purchase on Barnes & Noble Today!
Download to NOOK Book (eBook)
Purchase on Amazon Today!
Download to KINDLE
DON'T HAVE A E-READER, NOOK OR KINDLE? DON'T WORRY!
Download and Read books on your home computer, iPod, iPad, Blackberry, or other mobile devices for free. Nook Apps can be found here for the PC -- Kindle Apps can be found here for the PC
How did Ruby and Othella Mae, from The Upper Room, come to be who they are today?
Find out in the exciting prequel to The Upper Room, titled Mama Ruby. There’s a fine line between best friend and worst nightmare…but there will be a reckoning....
New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe presents an unforgettable tale featuring Mama Ruby, the indomitable heroine of her acclaimed novel The Upper Room. Now readers will get a peek into Ruby’s early years, as she transforms from a spoiled small-town girl into one of the South’s most notorious and volatile women…
Growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, Ruby Jean Upshaw is the kind of girl who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. By the time she’s fifteen, Ruby has developed a taste for fast men and cheap liquor, and not even her preacher daddy can set her straight. Most everyone in the neighborhood knows you don’t cross Ruby. Only Othella Mae Cartier, daughter of the town tramp, understands what makes Ruby tick.
When Ruby discovers she’s in the family way, she’s scared for the first time in her life. After hiding her growing belly with baggy dresses, Ruby secretly gives birth to a baby girl at Othella’s house. With few choices, Othella talks Ruby into giving the child away and with the help of a shocking revelation, convinces Ruby to run off with her to New Orleans.
But nothing can erase Ruby’s memories of the child she lost or quell her simmering rage at Othella for persuading her to let her precious baby go. If there’s a fine line between best friend and worst nightmare, Ruby is surely treading it. Because someday, there will be a reckoning. And when it comes, Othella will learn the hard way that no one knows how to exact revenge quite like Ruby Jean Upshaw!
Publishers Weekly Book Review
Mary Monroe's prequel to The Upper Room reintroduces readers to Mama Ruby, a fierce and indomitable woman. This time Monroe focuses on Ruby's early adolescence as the youngest daughter of a preacher in 1930s Louisiana. While her parents shelter her from the harsh world, Ruby is eager for adult sensations, especially sex, and embraces her desire when she meets the promiscuous Othella and her brother, Ike. Ruby and Othella experiment with neighborhood boys and Ruby soon gets pregnant. Othella and her mother persuade her to give the baby up at birth, and doing so haunts Ruby forever. Ruby and Othella then flee small town life only to become prostitutes in New Orleans and take part in a killing. Though readers new to the series will have to accept the dialect, ever-present threat of violence, and explicit sex scenes, they'll appreciate the compelling period and the unapologetic characters. Familiarity with The Upper Room smoothes the way. (June)
Mama Ruby by Mary Monroe
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Dafina (June 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0758238614
ISBN-13: 978-0758238610
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
Purchase from Black Expressions
Purchase on Barnes & Noble Today!
Download to NOOK Book (eBook)
Purchase on Amazon Today!
Download to KINDLE
DON'T HAVE A E-READER, NOOK OR KINDLE? DON'T WORRY!
Download and Read books on your home computer, iPod, iPad, Blackberry, or other mobile devices for free. Nook Apps can be found here for the PC -- Kindle Apps can be found here for the PC
About Author Mary Monroe
Mary Monroe is the third child of Alabama sharecroppers and the first and only member of her family to finish high school. She did not attend college or any writing classes, but taught herself how to write and started writing short stories around the age of four. She spent the first part of her life in Alabama and Ohio, and moved to Richmond, California, in 1973. She has lived in Oakland since 1984.Her first novel, The Upper Room, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 1985, and was widely reviewed throughout the U.S. and in Great Britain. She endured fifteen years and hundreds of rejection letters before she landed a contract for her second novel, God Don’t Like Ugly. It was published in October 2000, by Kensington Books. God Don’t Play was her seventh novel to be published, and it landed her a spot on the prestigious New York Times bestsellers list for the first time!
Mary is divorced, loves to travel, loves to mingle with other authors, and she'll read anything by Ernest Gaines, Stephen King, Alice Walker, and James Patterson. She still writes seven days a week and gets most of her ideas from current events, and the people around her, but most of her material is autobiographical.
New York Times Bestselling author Mary Monroe created fabulous books such as: Mama Ruby, The Upper Room and the God Don't Like Ugly series for readers with a sense of humor and adventure. When The Upper Room was published, Monroe had this to say: "This is my story -- these characters are people I know, it's my life!"
Meet author Mary Monroe as she travels across the nation discussing Mama Ruby and her literary journey. View more book details and her tour schedule at her website: http://www.marymonroe.org
Join Author Mary Monroe on Twitter: @marymonroebooks
Like Mary on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marymonroefanpage
To learn more about this author visit: http://www.blackpearlsmagazine.com/marymonroe.html
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