Ruth & Pen by Emilie Pine. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via NetGalley included. No affiliate links were used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Paula’s e-reader is lying on a cream bed sheet beside a cup of coffee. The e-reader is open on the title page of Ruth & Pen by Emilie Pine.
Continuing the adventures of books it took me years to read because I kept picking them up and putting them down, we have Emilie Pine's debut novel Ruth & Pen. I took this photo back in 2022 when I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley. I couldn't connect with the characters when I first started reading, so I set it aside. I enjoyed Pine's writing style, though, so I knew I'd give it another try at some point. I listened to it on audio in March, and I am glad I gave it a second chance because I connected with it much more this time around!
Set over the course of one day, we follow Ruth—a forty-something counsellor whose husband Aidan hasn't come home from a work trip—and Pen—an autistic teenager on her way to a climate protest who has decided to tell her friend Alice the thing she has been keeping secret. The day in question is October 7th, 2019, when Extinction Rebellion Ireland held its climate walk and protest as part of Extinction Rebellion's week of global protests.
Pen's attempts to fit in at school haven't gone as planned. Things at home aren't exactly less anxiety-inducing, as she struggles to connect with her mother and younger sister.
Ruth's marriage is at a crossroads. After multiple rounds of IVF, Ruth has realised that she doesn't want to continue. However, Aidan doesn't want to stop. I don't want to give much more away than the novel’s blurb, but if reading about infertility is something you wish to take care with I would recommend looking up the content warnings beforehand.
Ruth & Pen is a decidedly Dublin novel. The city's landscape is as much a character as Ruth, Pen, Alice, and Aidan are. I really enjoyed the switching points of view. We hear not only from our titular protagonists but also from Alice and Aidan, which adds richness to the story.
Ruth & Pen is a beautifully tender and poignant novel, that deals with complex topics in a nuanced and compassionate way.
Ruth & Pen by Emilie Pine is published by Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Random House. It is available in hardback, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.
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