Ten Good Seconds of Silence has been reprinted, and is once again widely available in stores across Canada.

Short-listed! The 2001 Writers' Trust of Canada Fiction Prize. Ten Good Seconds of Silence was named a finalist.

Short-listed! The 2001 City of Toronto Book Award. Ten Good Seconds of Silence was named a finalist.

Short-listed! The 2002 Amazon.ca/Books In Canada First Novel Award. Ten Good Seconds of Silence was named a finalist.

Now Magazine names Ten Good Seconds of Silence as one of the top ten books of 2001.

Random House Germany published Ten Good Seconds of Silence. 2003.

Ten Good Seconds of Silence has been adopted by several universities to
be taught as part of their regular course curricula.

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.

Suggested questions for book club discussions

Ten Good Seconds of Silence is filled with unforgettable characters who ask important questions about sanity, choice, and love.

At first glance Ten Good Seconds of Silence is the tale of Lilith Boot, a psychic single mother who find missing children for the police and of her relationship with her daughter Lemon, who longs to know her father. Lilith is an eccentric who talks to flowers and believes clairvoyance is a genetic condition Lemon will one day inherit. Above all, Lilith insists that Lemon was an immaculate conception of sorts. The plot alternates between 1960's Vancouver and 1980's Toronto. On a deeper level, this is a story that challenges us all to re-think what normal means.

Ten Good Seconds of Silence is a novel about "seeing", about the gap between how we perceive ourselves and how others choose to see us. It's also a tale of lost and found. Lost children, lost souls, love lost, but ultimately of the power of true friendship to help recover what's gone missing. No matter what your particular form of alienation, you will find yourself inside this book.

ATTENTION BOOK CLUB MEMBERS!

Ten Good Seconds of Silence has already been selected as reading for several book clubs across Canada and in the US because it is filled with unforgettable characters who ask important questions about sanity, choice, and love.

If you would like to consider Ten Good Seconds of Silence for your own book club you may receive a book club brochure from the publisher by e-mailing bethbruder@dundurn.com.

Below you will find questions for book club discussion, just to get you started:

1. Discuss the various perspectives on mental health presented within Ten Good Second of Silence. What questions do they raise? How are Mrs. Moffat, Randy, and Lilith different in their outlook and experience? How has the author used Lilith's profession as a psychic to explore the concept of psychotic?
2. Ten Good Seconds of Silence is a carefully structured novel, revolving around two interconnected plot lines. Of these plots, is there one that is of central importance? Why has the author used both first and third person narration?
3. Why can't Lilith find Benjamin? What is the author trying to say about memory and identity?
4. Lemon grows up without knowing her biological father, and instead creates a perfect version in her mind. Why then, at the end, does she make the choices that she does? What is the author trying to suggest about family? What is Lemon's relationship to Randy?
5. There are many versions of love presented in this novel. Discuss the examples you noticed. What is the author trying to say about unconditional love?
6. When does the title, Ten Good Seconds of Silence appear in the novel? What is the significance?

Read the article in Toronto's NOW magazine, featuring an interview with Elizabeth about the release of Ten Good Seconds of Silence.