Chosen! Smoke was selected as the 2007 One Book, One Community read. For details visit the One Book, One Community website or read the press release.

The Record | September 2007.
Feature Article by Robert Reid. Click here to read it.

Herizons | Fall 2006.
'Smoke is a deceptively subversive and innovative story....As with her first novel, Ten Good Seconds of Silence, Ruth displays a masterful ability to draw the reader into the hearts and minds of characters, leaving us breathless for further details and resolution. Brilliantly researched and quietly political. Smoke is a smart, engrossing read.'

Toronto's Now Magazine names Smoke one of the Top 10 Books of the Year!

Vancouver Sun | Saturday, December 31, 2005
Rebecca Wigod names Smoke one of the Best Reads of 2005.

The London Free Press
Named Smoke one of the best books of 2005.

The Globe and Mail | August 27, 2005.
"At first glance, Smoke seems like just the kind of CanLit novel that up-market downtown writers would like sneer at. Set in a village called Smoke, in southern Ontario's tobacco country, Smoke tells the tale of a sensitive farm boy on the verge of becoming a man in 1958, and what he learns by listening to the stories told by the town's elderly doctor. But this isn't Jake and the Kid revisited: Elizabeth Ruth is closer to Pedro Almodovar, Todd Haynes and other leading members of the New Queer Cinema than to W.O. Mitchell.....It's a virtuoso performance that neither preaches nor mocks the past, but subverts it by challenging us to rethink what is normal and what is not.....Ruth is an innovative storyteller, full of quirky surprises, who has the courage to confront basic preconceptions about self-identity....so full of vitality, so drawn to so many things simultaneously, so alive, reading her is always likely to be more of a D.H. Lawrence rollercoaster than a Virgina Woolf Ferris wheel. Whenever the ills of this book's characters intersect with the culling and curing of tobacco leaf, Ruth is utterly compelling."
Written by T.F. Rigelhof.
Read the full review.

The Edmonton Journal | Sunday September 25, 2005.
Ruth expertly ties together threads of stories set in 1950s tobacco town.... Ruth is a magnificent and captivating storyteller. In this, her second novel, she weaves the small town's 1950's atmosphere seamlessly with the doctor's stories about mobster life. With her detailed writing you can practically smell the tobacco from the McFiddie farm curing in the kilns and feel the excitement of the town's women as they plan for Smoke's 150th birthday celebrations....Ruth's memorable story lingers in the mind long after the last twist is unravelled. It is a delightful piece of fiction.

Smoke is a hit in Winnipeg! | Sunday August 28, 2005
"rich with compelling metaphors and subtle implications....Ruth emphasizes her dominant theme, that "a person is not necessarily what you see or think you see," as different characters come to grips with who they really are. It is in conveying the emotions involved with this realization that Ruth does her best writing. The doctor tells Buster, "only a fool and the dead don't change." Although her subject is serious, Ruth lightens her tone with charming figures of speech, such as "even the fish were in danger of drowning" and "a whispering sunrise was getting ready to shout."
Written by Helen Sigurdson.
Read the Winnipeg Free Press review.

Smoke garners another great review from the Vancouver Sun. | Saturday September 3, 2005
"...a fine writer....a wonderful ear for dialogue, a nice sense of pacing and an authoritative command of detail."
Written by Elaine Kalman Naves
Read the full review.

Smoke got a NNNN review in NOW! | August 18-24, 2005.
"[Elizabeth] Ruth is definitely the real thing."
Written by Susan G. Cole.
Read the review.



_______________________________________

Elizabeth made the cover of Now Magazine!!
Read the feature article and review here.

Bravo! Television interview with Elizabeth Ruth airs on the half-hour documentary show "The Writing Life", directed by Michael Glassbourg. October 24, 2002.

NOW Magazines Reader's Poll votes Elizabeth Ruth “Best New Writer” (runner up) in 2001 and 2004.

Out Front (CBC Radio 1) selects Elizabeth Ruth’s "Quantum Father" as one of best radio documentaries of the year 2000.

Elizabeth is Xtra's cover story!
Read the Xtra article and review of Bent on Writing here soon.

Reviews

Praise for Ten Good Seconds of Silence:

"Every once in a while a novel splashes to the surface of the slush pile like a big orange Koi in a pool of minnows. Such a novel is Ten Good Seconds of Silence. This is a powerful debut with echoes of Dickens, some John Irving and a little Timothy Findley scattered throughout."
W.P. Kinsella, Books In Canada April 2002

"Elizabeth Ruth's first novel reveals a highly creative writer who is not afraid of taking risks. She finds her imagery deep within her characters, with the kind of innovative storytelling that is binding new readers to new writers."
Timothy Findley

"Debut novel full of surprises. Elizabeth Ruth's mother-and-daughter story subverts readers' expectations at every turn" Read the full review here.
Robert J. Wiersema, Vancouver Sun, Jan 2002.

"Elizabeth Ruth's prose bursts with colour and metaphor. Clever and compelling, her debut novel is a dramatic portrayal of the inter-generational tensions surrounding memory, perception and identity."
Camilla Gibb, winner of the 2000 City of Toronto Book Award.

"Lilith Boot, the main character, wins the prize for this year's most unlikely superhero. An exceptional first novel. A mixture of Girl Interrupted and The Edible Woman, this oddly magical novel has a breathless feel."
Now Magazine, Sept. 20, 2001

"Ruth beautifully uses metaphors - "the only mother tongue" - to explore the nebulous concept of what it means to be 'normal' and what it means to love what you have never known - a lost child, an absent parent... Ruth is in charge of her subject matter here, skillfully honing in on the age-old triad if women, motherhood and madness with new insight, as she connects the issues to urban social realities. This is an important book for its daring, direct look at issues and people we too often confine not only in the margins of society, but in our minds as well."
The Toronto Star, November 18, 2001.

"Nuanced and compelling writing. Ruth shows every sign of being a writer of real promise..."
The Globe and Mail, September 29, 2001

"A fascinating debut by a creative and original new voice in Canadian fiction. Recommended for those who enjoy the work of Margaret Atwood and Anne-Marie MacDonald"
Bryan Prince Booksellers, staff review.

"Compelling first novel will soon have you hooked. Ruth is a courageous writer who creates courageous, exhilarating characters, challenging some of our most basic preconceptions... Brilliantly crafted, this debut novel is a joy to the heart and soul. It captures the lush diversity of human nature."
The Sunday Telegram, Newfoundland.

"A memorable contribution to the eccentric characters who populate Canadian fiction. A unique creation. Ruth eschews maternal stereotypes and dares to confront the fine line between a maternal love that nurtures the child and a maternal love that functions to save the mother herself."
Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering. Fall/Winter 2002.

"This novel has a fluid structure, reminiscent of Jeanette Winterson's Sexing the Cherry. In one line of dialogue or one description of clothing, these characters become real...Ten Good Seconds of Silence is an excellent read, laced with rich and colourful metaphors, weaving its way through generations like a vine."
Books in Canada, Canadian Review of Books, 2002

"This book shows a sensitive author with a gift for metaphor and imagery. Ruth's debut novel strikes chords of identity, loss and memory that resonate in us all."
The Hamilton Spectator, September, 2001

"Lilith Boot is an appealing character. A large woman with a larger personality ... Quirky characters, plot twists and ambitious vision."
Quill & Quire, October, 2001

"A story of contrasting elements - mothers and daughters, sight and blindness, searching and discovery, loss and gifts - but it is not a simple case of black and white. This is a novel with depth and texture."
Herizons Magazine, Summer 2002.

"If you've ever wanted a novel with a female protagonist who manages to step outside of all social conventions without shame, this is the book for you."
Fireweed, Fall 2001.

"An off-beat character-driven story".
Uptown Magazine (Winnipeg). Dec 2001.

"There is beautiful, lyrical writing here: paragraphs verging on the profound and then spilling over to wash us in their wisdom...Liquid shiny, prose."
Mean Magazine (Peterborough), March 2002

"I appreciate the research and detail...the fictitious lives of Lilith and Lemon are steeped in a real world. Believable and disturbing, enlightening and rewarding. Ruth doesn't disappoint. Hopefully she (Ruth) is working on another full-length fiction novel."
Belleville Examiner, 2002.

Praise for short fiction

Polish - a short story appearing in the anthology She Writes: Love, Spaghetti and Other Stories by Youngish Women.

"Elizabeth Ruth gives us Polish, a confident, keenly felt story about family dynamics, sexuality and a legacy of dysfunctional relationships that starts small and unfurls a startling array of subtle layers and complex characters."
NOW Magazine, January, 2003

"All the stories are strong. If you haven't seen (the authors') works or heard their names on contest winner lists, in magazines, reviews or newspapers, you're bound to come across them in the future." Books in Canada, May 2003.

Toronto Star Crossword
Clue #1 Down: Elizabeth Ruth's 2005 novel
Do the crossword!

Interviews/Podcasts

One Book One Community Q&A video from the Cambridge Public Library event

Bella Online interview with M.E. Wood

August 2005, Interview with James O'Hearn on engagingtheword.net
listen to it here

September 2005, Chatting with Lisa Rundle on rabble.ca
listen to it here

Author Interview
Uptown Magazine Winnipeg

Calgary Herald interview

Interview with Jennifer O'Connor in Xtra.

Interview with the online magazine, Chicklit.

Smoke was selected for the October 2005 book of the month for the Chatelaine.com book club.