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A Novel
by Marshall Fine
In this heartwarming story about second acts and second chances, a no-nonsense retiree, very much set in her ways, must learn to adapt and make peace with her past in order to build a fulfilling future.
Ruth Winters is retired, widowed, and resigned to spending the rest of her life alone in her suburban home. She likes her routine and uses it to avoid having to spend time with other people. She probably wouldn't call herself fulfilled, but it's too late now to go chasing happiness.
Then three things happen at once: a beloved niece makes a big announcement, an old flame reaches out, and her estranged sister receives life-changing news. Ruth finds herself reconnecting with people she thought were long gone from her world, as she is forced to reconsider her expectations for this phase of her life.
None of this fits into Ruth's routine―in fact, the whole thing just blows to bits. But when Ruth starts to pick up the pieces, she discovers that maybe it's not too late to make something new after all.
What are your reading this week? (12-12-2024)
Just finished The Autumn of Ruth Winters by Marshall Fine.
-Nancy_Read
"A late-in-life coming-of-age tale, proving that reconnection and reconciliation don't have an age limit. Fans of Hazel Prior's How the Penguins Saved Veronica and Lee Smith's Silver Alert will find lots to like in Fine's heartwarming novel about unexpected connections at unexpected times." ―Booklist
"An utterly beautiful tale of familial love that cannot be extinguished through conflict and anger and the rewards of stepping out of one's comfort zone at any stage of life." ―Kyra Davis, New York Times bestselling author of Just One Night
"If it is possible to write a bildungsroman about a woman in her sixties, Marshall Fine has done it. Fine takes his reserved heroine, Ruth Winters, on a journey through buried resentments, stifled grief, and petty slights until she finally accepts the love and compassion that was within her all along. She blossomed on the page like Austin's Elinor Dashwood right before my eyes. Marshall Fine has created a beautiful and moving character, that if we open our hearts, we will see Ruth Winters everywhere." ―Griffin Dunne, author of The Friday Afternoon Club
"A delightfully shrewd and entertaining novel with an aging, quirky heroine who reminds us that some of life's most profound turns can be at the end of the roller coaster. I fell in love with Ruth Winters and think you will too." ―Julia Heaberlin, internationally bestselling author of Night Will Find You
This information about The Autumn of Ruth Winters was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Minneapolis native Marshall Fine's career as an award-winning journalist, critic, and filmmaker has spanned fifty years. He has written biographies of filmmakers John Cassavetes and Sam Peckinpah, directed documentaries about film critic Rex Reed and comedian Robert Klein, conducted the Playboy interview with Howard Stern, and chaired the New York Film Critics Circle four times. The author currently lives in Ossining, New York. This is his first published novel.
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