Ruby Fae McKeever is realizing that she made a terrible decision when she dropped out of college two years ago to marry that sweet-faced JW Jasper and join his family’s traveling revival ministry–or, as her Daddy had put it, when she “run off with the dang-fool Jesus Circus.” She’d thought at the time that she was called by God. But now that she thinks about it, maybe she just really, really … likes singing on stage. Or she could have confused God’s voice with the feeling of JW’s hand up her shirt. Hey, It’s an understandable mistake.
Now she’s trapped on a never-ending bus tour with a controlling father-in-law, a cipher of a mother-in-law, and a man-boy for a husband who is so desperate to prove himself to his father, he’s capable of almost anything. Homesick, worried for her baby daughter, and cut off from communicating with her family, Ruby Fae is desperate to get back to Oklahoma.
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Ruby’s Story
Ruby grows up in a small Oklahoma farming community. She is raised in a Christian home and grows up with faith. Against her father’s wishes she marries the son of their neighbors J.W. Jasper. The Jaspers are a traveling Gospel group. Reverend Jasper preaches, his wife plays the piano and J. W. And Ruby sing. They travel all over the U.S. in a motor coach bus preaching and singing.
At first things are fine, but more and more Ruby finds that her marriage to J.W. Is not what she thought it would be. From being a happy new bride, to a mother of a beautiful girl Savannah, Ruby becomes depressed, frightened and then desperate as she fears for her life and the life of her child.
This is a story of relationships. The relationships between, J. W. And his parents, the relationship between Ruby and her parents and that between husband and wife. The unique closeness of a mother and her child and her instinct to protect that child.
When does obedience turn to abuse? At what point does religion stop being religious and become fanatical? This is a very dramatic novel and will stay with you for a while. No person should be controlled in such a manner that they no longer have individual rights a freedoms.
This story is well written and the characters are realistic. The settings are well described. The emotional aspects are heartbreaking. The speech and mannerisms of the different places are true to life.
You should read this book, you will be glad you did. I recommend it.
Thanks to Roxie Faulkner Kirk, and Book Sirens for allowing me to read a free copy for an honest review.
The main character – Ruby Fae – is so naive and knows so little of the world that she is somewhat resigned to live with the Jaspers in a bus helping to deliver God´s word in exchange for her husband´s love and his beliefs. It´s so sad to read how much violence and bullying is contained in such a small space and within such a small family. Too many secrets and lies permeate the relationships, the Rev. Jasper Senior although kind and helpful to others does not bestow the same behaviour upon his family and forces them to do as he believes and says, leaving no space for anyone to live their lives as they should or want. Women should be submissive to their husbands, to serve and obey them even when they work as much as men do or more (specially if they have a child); it´s just unbelievable that in the 70´s that´s the way people acted and thought (I bet some people still think that way….). The story has an unexpected ending and in my view a very positive one!
I received a free copy of this book through the author/Hidden Gems in exchange for an honest review.
I am a character-driven reader and Roxie Faulkner Kirk sure delivers. Her characters draw me into the story and though I want to take some of the characters out behind the woodshed, I am committed to seeing the protagonist through her conflicts. One cannot help but cheer Ruby Fae on as she attempts to get back to her Oklahoma family. A tragic tale as told, but its ending is worth the struggle.
A pleasure to read!
The Red Dirt Hymnbook, by Roxie Faulkner Kirk, is a powerful, bold, exceptionally well-written story about a young married woman with a baby caught in a nightmare of religiosity, abuse, stern-to-the-point-of-pathology in-laws, and her own claustrophobic fears. There are some harrowing scenes in the book, but to the author’s credit, none of them involve graphic violence—which perhaps makes the story more chilling. Kirk has both the good taste and the talent to convey fear and torment without engaging in a blow-by-blow of the physical, but she digs deep into the mental and emotional mistreatment and that’s where the true power of this book lies.
Ruby Fae McKeever Jasper, the protagonist, drops out of college and marries JW, her high school sweetheart—her only ever boyfriend—against her parents’ strong opposition. The boy—he really never matures into a man—is charismatic, talented musically, and so good-looking women and girls practically swoon over him. He is also deeply disturbed by his own brutal childhood and his religiosity—and takes out his own pain on his young wife. Together, the young couple with their infant daughter, Susannah, live on a touring travel bus with JW’s parents, the Rev. Jasper and his wife, Marrilee, who is always introduced at Mrs. Rev. Lemuel T. Jasper and never by her own name. They tour the Midwest and west, producing religious shows at churches and revivals where Ruby and JW sing, Marrilee plays the piano and Rev. Jasper preaches.
Ruby, in her deadpan delivery, sums up the dilemma of her own life on the eve of her wedding: “Because as much as I wanted to go with JW, to sing on stage in fancy clothes and live like some Gypsy for Jesus, I also wanted to stay right there in Oklahoma, raising kids as wild as bobcats and living my open range life.”
Rev. Jasper is caught up in his hell fire and brimstone, Old Testament, kind of religiosity to the point of near insanity. When his back story is at last revealed, readers can understand his torment and be almost sympathetic. But the man has ruined both of his own sons with his views of sin, redemption, and his insistence that women be completely obedient to men (even to the point of not being allowed to speak unless directly asked to do so). Ruby Fae is too feisty to be rendered totally subservient, but JW and Rev. Lem are just about to wear her down.
The Jasper family does not allow Ruby to have any money of her own. She is reduced to petty thievery to get such things as her sanitary products. They steal her mail, both her letters to and from her mother, and they isolate her from others. Stealing a stamp and trying to get a letter to her mother is a harrowing ordeal. She is truly a prisoner in the touring bus.
Young Ruby misses her mother and her home deeply, and Rev. Jasper considers this a sin. So much so that Ruby is subjected to “healing” sessions, with her on her knees until the physical discomfort makes her willing to pretend the homesickness is gone. But Ruby’s desire to return to her home in Oklahoma remains a driving force in the story—as well as Ruby’s desire to protect her infant daughter from the clutches of the Jaspers and their brutal concepts of child-rearing.
Ruby Fae’s multiple failed attempts to escape give the story a thriller-like gloss. Readers can spot the danger she is in far quicker than Ruby can herself at times. She does love JW—or she wants to. She’s never 100 percent sure either way. But she wants the marriage to work. She is also genuinely religious herself, having been “saved” at a revival conducted by Rev. Jasper when she was only a child fearful she would go to hell because she sassed her brother.
The story rings with authenticity, raises important questions, and showcases the power of a mother’s love.
Ruby’s distinctive voice throughout the story is honest, direct, and compelling. She also sprinkles some downhome sayings throughout that add a richness to the story, such as: “I could get happy in the same high heels I got sad in,” and “Let’s just say I left town on a runaway horse and Dad didn’t lift a rope to stop it.”
This is an intense book, with a surprising twist near the end. But it is also filled with beauty and grace, both in the substance and the writing itself. The author knows how to build suspense, how to break into wry comic relief just when it is all too grim, and how to show the depth of her characters’ inter turmoil. While there is no shortage of books about women trapped in abusive relationships or people driven to near madness by religious fervor, Kirk makes both story lines alive and fresh and captivating. This is just really a very fine, well written, captivating book that rings true.
Wow. This is an amazingly poignant book that drew me into Ruby Fae’s story right from the beginning and didn’t let up. The author did a great job depicting the emotions and reactions of Ruby Fae as an abused young wife. I like how as the story progresses the reader sees Ruby’s desperation enabling her to mature and make appropriate decisions. Life did not beat her down. I like how she is portrayed as a loving, caring mother and that she loved her own parents and knew the value of them being part of her and Susannah’s lives. Having been a part of the Christian faith for all of my life and heard stories regarding the Holiness movement, the religiosity portrayed by the Old Rev and JR comes across as authentic. Apparently this is the author’s first book and I do hope it will not be her last. I couldn’t put it down. I am looking forward to reading more from Ms. Kirk. I received a complimentary advanced reader copy of the book and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.