Though I usually focus on romance fiction, I’d like to share a women’s fiction/historical fiction book I immensely enjoyed and highly recommend.
Note: This meaty, satisfying work of historical fiction contains realistic depictions of violence and rape. The heroine’s strength and determination in the face of these and other obstacles made the brutality bearable for me, but sensitive readers should beware.
It’s been a while since I read through the night, but this meaty, satisfying tale wouldn’t let me go. Set during the Gilded Age of the late 1800s/early 1900s, the narrative spans over forty years in the life of Ruby Schmidt, who leaves rural Texas at eighteen to attend art school back East, against her family’s wishes. Her fiancé Biz (short for Bismarck) is reluctant to part from her for a year. Their passionate love (written in steamy detail) isn’t enough to make Ruby relinquish her passion for art, “a different kind of fire.” Schafer’s lyrical writing about art, color, and the world of the senses beautifully conveys the strength of Ruby’s drive to paint.
Though she must battle sexist ideas about “women’s art,” Ruby thrives at the Academy. When her one-year stay turns into two, then three, her hopes that Biz will wait for her dwindle, but she never stops loving him, even when her friendship with Willow, a fellow art student, flames into sensual love and a deep soul connection. Despite Willow’s mother’s feminism, their lesbian affair is too scandalous to go unchallenged.
Yearning for both Biz and Willow, Ruby eventually falls in with a charming Italian baron, also a fellow art student, and becomes pregnant just as the depression of 1893 hits. Abandoned and penniless, she cannot go back home to Texas, whose beauty continues to tug at her soul. Eventually, with the help of Buffalo Bill Cody and her artistic skill, she earns enough to return home and face her family and Biz. But neither her baron nor Willow are ready to let her go.
A skilled author of historical fiction, Schafer weaves in fascinating events from this era. What I enjoyed most, though, was her sensual, moving descriptions of beauty. She conveys Ruby’s experience of physical love, her connection to the land of her birth, her experience of painting, with such creative detail that I was able to really lose myself in the story. Ditto for her depictions of ugliness: the cinder-choked cityscapes back East, acts of violence and their aftermath, and the despair that nearly destroys Ruby when dire circumstances keep her from her art. Truly a beautiful, moving read.
