The Book of Ruth

Winner of the 1989 PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award for best first novel, this exquisite book confronts real-life issues of alienation and violence from which the author creates a stunning testament to the human capacity for mercy, compassion and love.

"A sly and wistful, if harrowing, human comedy. Hamilton is a new and original voice in fiction and one well worth listening to."--Boston Sunday Globe

"Ms. Hamilton gives Ruth a humble dignity and allows her hope--but it's not a heavenly hope. It's a common one, caked with mud and held with gritted teeth. And it's probably the only kind that's worth reading about."--New York Times Book Review

"An extraordinary story of a family's disintegration... Will be compared to Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres. Astonishingly vivid and moving."--People

"An enthralling tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying ways our lives"--Entertainment Weekly

"Unforgettably, beat by beat, Hamilton maps the best and worst of the human heart and all the mysterious, uncharted country in between."--Kirkus Reviews

"Hamilton's story builds to a shocking crescendo. Her small-town characters are a appealingly offbeat and brushed with grace as any found in Alice Hoffman's or Anne Tyler's novels."--Glamour

"An American beauty this book... The narrator of Jane Hamilton's sensational first novel is a holy lusty innocent."--Vogue