A LitHub most anticipated book of 2025 'It will become an underground classic' New York
Times 'A wonderful loving tenderly teasing and often moving portrait... Standout' Wall
Street Journal 'An irresistibly smart and funny novel' Jenny Offill author of Weather
shortlisted for the Women's Prize For Fiction Ruth is raised in a snow globe of Christian
communism a world without private property television or tolerance for idle questions. Every
morning she braids her hair and wears the same costume sings the same breakfast song in a
family room identical to every other family room in the community every one of these moments
is meant to be a prayer but to Ruth they remain puzzles. Her life is seen in glimpses through
childhood marriage and motherhood as she tries to manage her own perilous curiosity in a
community built on holy mystery. Is she happy? Might this in fact be happiness? Ruth immerses
us in an experience that challenges our most fervent beliefs.
