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A review by lizaroo71
Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace
3.0
this is a story about a young girl, ruby, growing up in brooklyn circa 1925 that has unusually long arms. because of this, she is an extraordinary pitcher.
ruby's young life is marred by a spanish flu epidemic (which takes her mother, father and a brother) and a subway accident that claims her beautiful sister-in-law. this leaves ruby, age 17, in the custody of her brother that has long gone checked out emotionally after losing his wife. his two young girls, amanda and allie, become ruby's responsibility.
ruby takes any job she can until she decides to exploit her unusually long arms by joining a circus sideshow act. the director says no go, but amanda convinces him to go outdoors so her aunt can show her "other" talent. and so begins a new sideshow act of superfast pitching.
ruby crosses the paths of the likes of babe ruth, lou gehrig and jack dempsey. she also crosses the paths of members of the KKK and an underground gambling/rumrunners ring.
interesting storylines, but it feels slow in the middle of the novel.
this is based on the life of a real life baseball player jackie mitchell that was banned from baseball after striking out babe ruth and gehrig during an exhibition game.
ruby's young life is marred by a spanish flu epidemic (which takes her mother, father and a brother) and a subway accident that claims her beautiful sister-in-law. this leaves ruby, age 17, in the custody of her brother that has long gone checked out emotionally after losing his wife. his two young girls, amanda and allie, become ruby's responsibility.
ruby takes any job she can until she decides to exploit her unusually long arms by joining a circus sideshow act. the director says no go, but amanda convinces him to go outdoors so her aunt can show her "other" talent. and so begins a new sideshow act of superfast pitching.
ruby crosses the paths of the likes of babe ruth, lou gehrig and jack dempsey. she also crosses the paths of members of the KKK and an underground gambling/rumrunners ring.
interesting storylines, but it feels slow in the middle of the novel.
this is based on the life of a real life baseball player jackie mitchell that was banned from baseball after striking out babe ruth and gehrig during an exhibition game.