The Autumn of Ruth Winters

A Novel

By: Marshall Fine

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

In this heartwarming story about second acts and second chances, a no-nonsense retiree, very much set in her ways, must learn to adapt and make peace with her past in order to build a fulfilling future.

Ruth Winters is retired, widowed, and resigned to spending the rest of her life alone in her suburban home. She likes her routine and uses it to avoid having to spend time with other people. She probably wouldn’t call herself fulfilled, but it’s too late now to go chasing happiness.

Then three things happen at once: a beloved niece makes a big announcement, an old flame reaches out, and her estranged sister receives life-changing news. Ruth finds herself reconnecting with people she thought were long gone from her world, as she is forced to reconsider her expectations for this phase of her life.

None of this fits into Ruth’s routine—in fact, the whole thing just blows to bits. But when Ruth starts to pick up the pieces, she discovers that maybe it’s not too late to make something new after all.

©2024 by Marshall Fine. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Readers will enjoy cheering for Fine’s late bloomer.”—Publishers Weekly

“This is a feel-good novel that should appeal to fans of Phaedra Patrick, Jojo Moyes, and Kirsten Miller. Utterly charming. Recommended.”—Library Journal

“A late-in-life coming-of-age tale, proving that reconnection and reconciliation don’t have an age limit. Fans of Hazel Prior’s How the Penguins Saved Veronica and Lee Smith’s Silver Alert will find lots to like in Fine’s heartwarming novel about unexpected connections at unexpected times.”—Booklist

What a Wonderful Novel

I so empathized with the character's trajectory. Ruth was written with such balance, aloof, but with an adequate backstory so she never tipped into a trope or became unlikeable. Fine craftily laid out the complexity and complications that arise from sibling rivalries/hostilities; the capacity for these rivalries to last for decades and become so impacted that it is impossible to find the first layer. I hope more authors realize that there is an entire demographic of readers who are eager to see versions of their life on the page, wonderful older women (in the fullest sense of the word) navigating transitions, histories, losses, and an openness to new possibilities. The voice actor did a wonderful job of bringing Ruth to life, slightly curmudgeonly but with a vocal hesitance that helped us to see how Ruth herself was simply trying to put one foot in front of the other. A word to accents: when I was a child, there was a Sesame Street clip where one child was whooping and hollering, imitating the representation of Native Americans he saw in a Western movie. The other child said to him, "Indians don't talk like that., with all that me wanna, etc." the whooping child says in return, "Oh, yeah, how do you know?" to which the other child says "Cause, I'm an Indian." Please consider how you represent Black voices; moving between Antebellum Southern accents and urban sister-girl caricatures makes no sense, generally, but certainly not when rendering accomplished, educated professionals who happen to be black (nurse/ nationally renowned television host); these vocal tropes can really shut down the experience and distract from the issues that the author is inviting us to consider.

Surprisingly engrossing

What a fascinating story about this 60+ year-old, widowed woman withdrawn pretty much since childhood with shyness and lack of her own worth. As the story progresses she begins to have mirrored back to her the respect of others so surprising to her. I immersed myself in her encounters and reflections. Ruth is intelligent, sharp and bluntly honest with herself as well as others so watching her open herself to neighbors, people from her time in high school and particularly her estranged sister made for an engrossing and teaching experience for Ruth and me, the reader.

I struggled at times with Joyce Bean's narration as it often felt sort of flat and rote often with little pause to signify a chapter change. However, this may have been intended as Ruth at first seemed a bit flat and stuck in schedules and rules gradually allowing herself to open to a new and maybe scary life.

A nice comforting read

Although there are sad parts to the story, it is ultimately a comforting read. It emphasizes that Changes possible at any age and can be a positive experience..

Aging woman lives and loves

I liked that no matter your age you can get up and get out- and live it up

Recommend

The book had a great storyline. It was very written. Being from the Midwest I enjoyed Minneapolis being the location of the story,