I LOVED this book! Pine's first book was great but this was a whole new level - what beautiful writing! Can't wait to see what she writes next.

Ruth's marriage may be falling apart. Pen is a teenager who wants her friend Alice to love her. Both women struggle to express themselves but know that they must.

This story is told over the space of twenty four hours. Set in Dublin, Pine alternates Ruth and Pen's timeline - and at one point their stories overlap. This is just an ordinary day for most people, but for Ruth and Pen, their future and their very selves depend on what happens in this moment. Pine's skill in showing how the ordinary and the extraordinary can co-exist in the same space, is incredible.

This is written with an amazing economy and yet you feel you miss nothing. If anything, you find yourself so close to the characters it becomes unbearably intimate. The more you understand them, the less able they seem to connect with the people that matter most to them and at times, the world around them.

This book is full of pain and sorrow and the difficulties of showing who we truly are, even to the people who we love and who love us. It is also full of love and hope.

Ruth is wondering if her marriage is about to break up after a few turbulent years.
Pine is a 16 year old with autism who is in love with her best friend.
The book goes through a pivotal day in their lives, during which they briefly cross paths.
Occasionally we hear the voices of Pine’s mother and friend, and Ruths husband.

Having read Emilie Pine’s essay collection, “Notes to Self”, I was eager to read Pine’s first novel. At first I was disappointed. It took a bit of time to figure out what was going on with each character, and wonder if paths were going to join. I found some of the writing a bit like a lecture (explaining the word idiom or Latin origins of words) and was wondering if I would keep reading.

As I got to learn more about the characters, I began to enjoy the detail of Pine’s writing. So many of the scenes were so detailed and relatable, I felt Pine was giving me words for situations that I wouldn’t have been able to express myself. In many paragraphs, the ordinariness of the events (eg having tea away from home) are made extraordinary but the writing.

Most of the activity happens between Grafton Street and Holles Street, so anybody familiar with that area of Dublin will like how relatable the story is. I agree Hansel and Gretel is an odd name for a coffee shop! I also recall the activists camping in Merrion Square, so there is almost a non-fiction reality about the book, even though it is fiction.

I started & finished this beautiful book within 24 hours. Emilie Pines debut collection of essays 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘧 was a favourite of mine and 𝘙𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘦𝘯 is her debut novel. ⁣
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Ruth & Pen (Penelope) are two unconnected women living in Dublin. Ruth is a counsellor, married to Aidan. They’ve just completed another unsuccessful round of IVF. Their marriage is under strain & Ruth fears Aidan will leave her. Pen is a neurodivergent 16 year old, who wishes she could communicate with the world via emojis as “𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥”. She has a different way of thinking & experiencing the world. She is also in love with her best friend Alice. The book is a day in the life of both women as their paths briefly cross during a climate change protest in Dublin city centre. ⁣
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Pen is a riveting character. She finds it impossible to form relationships & communicate with her peers. Her life is driven by routine. Ruth & Aidan are losing more of each other as each IVF cycle fails. Both women reach a crisis point in their relationships. ⁣
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To say I loved this book is an understatement. Pine writes candidly about the meaning of love, pain & motherhood & living in an unaccommodating world. She really gets inside the head of Ruth & Pen to show us the world from their perspective: a woman desperate to be a mother in a world full of mothers & babies & a teenager who only wants to be accepted as she is. ⁣
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She writes in a fluid, eloquent style, never overblown & always controlled, finely tuned into the interior world of both protagonists. How’s this for a line? “𝘗𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯” This is a deeply moving, emotional, cathartic novel & is due to be published on 5 May 2022. A book to treasure. 5⭐️. ⁣
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Many thanks to @netgalley, @penguinbooksuk and @vikingbooksuk for this advance ebook in return for my honest review.

Ruth & Pen – Emilie Pine (Hamish Hamilton, 2022)

It is October 7th, 2019 in Dublin City. Ruth and Pen don’t know each other, but over the course of a single day they both struggle with love, communication and an unaccommodating world. Ruth’s marriage with Aidan is on the brink of collapse, while sixteen-year-old Pen is deeply unsure of herself as she grapples with her feelings for her friend, Alice.

What a gorgeous book. Emilie Pine effortlessly embodies these two characters, capturing Ruth’s quiet grief and Pen’s racing thoughts in the most convincing way. Fertility, neurodivergence and communication breakdown jump out as the main themes. This book stands apart from Pine’s previous essay collection, Notes to Self, but her ability to capture grief, pain, and hope shines through in her debut novel.

Motherhood is a theme close to the author’s heart, and she writes about it in such a painful, beautiful way; Ruth and Aidan’s fertility journey makes for truly harrowing reading. One of the quiet heroes of this novel is Pen’s mother, Claire, whose love for her daughters wrapped me up in a warm blanket.

This story also made me reflect on the fleeting moments we have with strangers every single day; you never know the struggles, the joy, and the commonalities you share with the strangers you meet.

This book is a tender character study, full of gut-wrenching pain and love in all its various forms. Life can be hard, and this book celebrates the gentle bravery we show every day as we navigate the tough patches in our own lives.


Thanks to @netgalley for the ARC! Ruth & Pen will be available from May 5th, 2022.