Ruby

by Meg Henderson

The MacLean family has more than their fair share of secrets. They live in a close-knit community on Glasgow's High Street and the men work on the railways. They're hard-working, ordinary, respectable people but, behind the facade, they are a family in crisis. Ruby MacLean has to face a personal crisis just as the Second World War is about to start. She's seventeen, pregnant and forced to marry Gerry Reilly, a railway worker whose main aim in life is drinking heavily whenever he can. As their daughter is born, Gerry joins up and heads off to war, leaving Ruby to cope alone with a new baby and a family falling apart at the seams. And when her mother dies and the family secrets start to unravel, Ruby has to find the strength to build a new life for herself and her daughter. Many years later, retired and living quietly by the sea, Ruby discovers there were more secrets in her family than she could ever have imagined. As she discovers the final pieces in her family jigsaw and uncovers a tale of secrets and lies that the could never have suspected, she's left reeling from shock.

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

*note - Born in 1948 however the date/month on my part is unknown and unable to find*

Journalist and author Meg Henderson was born in Townhead, Glasgow. The youngest of three children (2 brothers). Her parents an Irish Catholic father and her mother an Irish/Scottish Protestant.

Meg Henderson lived in several parts of the city including Blackhill, Drumchapel, and Maryhill. After the death of her beloved aunt Peggy; Meg Henderson left her convent secondary school at the age of sixteen to care for her family, an alcoholic father and a mother who was unable to cope with the loss of her sister. On which her first novel 'Finding Peggy' was born out of research into her family history.

First working within the NHS and then travelling to India with the Voluntary Service Overseas. On her return to Scotland she married and went to live on a Scottish island and became an adoptive and foster parent while writing the occasional newspaper article. When Meg Henderson gave up fostering she decided to write full-time.

Henderson now lives with her husband on the East Coast of Scotland works as both a journalist and an author, writting for newspapers, magazines, and television documentaries for the BBC and C4.

Henderson's novels are generally set in pre-war and wartime Glasgow.

Reviews

[Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic read and author,so very sad that she has now passed away,read all of her books,so very sad but also uplifting

[Bambola]

Sorry, just couldn't get interested enough to care about these characters or what happened to them.

[Petrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good mix of comedy/tradegy set in pre-war Townhead in Glasgow.

[Janetbain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite Meg Henderson book but I do like reading about places I know and I did learn a little social history so I did enjoy this book.

[Grizzly Lumberjacks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book for its evocation of Glasgow in the 30's and 40's. Again I would have rated it a 3 and a half rather than four stars otherwise.