Healing Ruby by Jennifer H. Westall

[Dorothy]

Pump Up Your Book is proud to be representing Jennifer H. Westall, author of the Christian historical fiction, HEALING RUBY, as she tours the blogosphere March 2-27.

Ruby Graves, a young girl in Depression-era Alabama, faces the hardships of poverty and loss with as much faith as she can muster. At only the age of thirteen, she’s already lost a younger brother to illness, and now faces losing both her father and the boy who’s stealing her heart to illnesses as well. Armed with her beloved Scriptures, she prays daily for their healing, only to have her tender faith shattered by her father’s death.

Through her pain, she’s able to connect with her long-lost Uncle Asa, who’s mere presence at his brother’s funeral brings murmurs of a scandalous past involving her parents and a prominent local pastor, Irwin Cass. When Ruby discovers that one of Asa’a many secrets is an ability to heal, and that she may be next in line for the “gift,” she vows to find the faith that has eluded her so far, a faith that could mean never losing loved ones again.

But faith and doubt can’t reside in the same heart, not according to her father, and doubt is Ruby’s constant companion. As she struggles to find the true meaning of faith, she’s opposed at every turn by the pastor who would see her family destroyed and a community that can’t see deeper than the color of one’s skin. Through her search for a faith that could move mountains and a true understanding of her gift, can Ruby trust in a God that may require the ultimate sacrifice?

Please add your discussion about this book in the comments below, as well as any links to reviews, interviews, guest posts and book spotlights.

[Melody]

I read 'Healing Ruby' a few months ago and was completely enamored with it. Jennifer Hays-Westall takes the reader to a different time in our nations history. She not only touches on segregation but on how life was for people like Ruby who did not believe in it. As you read this story you become immersed in it an feel as if you are going through Ruby's trails and tribulations with her. Jennifer Hays-Westall is definitely an author that needs to be watched as she has a remarkable talent of story telling and keeping the reader engaged.