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I’m a Toronto-based writer of non-fiction, personal essay, short fiction and literary novels. My first novel, Ten Good Seconds of Silence was a finalist for the Amazon.ca/Best First Novel Award, the City of Toronto Book Award, and The Writers Trust of Canada Fiction Prize. My second novel, Smoke, was selected by librarians and booksellers for the amazing One Book One Community program. Both books have been published internationally and are taught in high schools and universities. In the fall of 2012 Cormorant Books will publish my third novel, The Matador – about a female bullfighter. Currently, I’m working on a number of writing projects – a creepy longish story, some children’s books, and a collection of poetry.

 

 

 

SMOKE

 

 

 
“It’s a virtuoso performance....utterly remarkable...” Globe and Mail

"[Smoke] is astute, big-hearted, occasionally disturbing and — as the title would suggest—nothing short of smouldering." Robert Hough, author of The Final Confession of Mabel Stark, The Stowaway and The Culprits.

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
Feature Article by Robert Reid. Click here to read it.

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

Vancouver Sun
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
"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
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!
"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.

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

Smoke got a NNNN review in NOW!
"[Elizabeth] Ruth is definitely the real thing."
Written by Susan G. Cole.

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"Echoes of Dickens, some John Irving and a little Timothy Findley scattered throughout." Books In Canada

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

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

Short-listed! The 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 the year.

"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

"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"
Robert J. Wiersema, Vancouver Sun

"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

"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

"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

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

"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.

"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

 

 

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