The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux – Mandy Robotham

Published By: Aria
Pages: 400
Released On: 11/04/2024

From a teenager in wartime England to a veteran of modern-day London – via 1950’s New York, the Swinging Sixties, Cold War Berlin, Venice and Vietnam – Ruby Devereaux has lived one hell of a life: parties, scandals and conflict zones, meeting men and adventure along the way. In a writing career spanning seven decades and more than twenty books, she’s distilled everything into her work. Or has she?

Now beyond her 90th year, Ruby’s energy is ebbing and her beloved typewriter put away. Until a call from her publisher presents Ruby with an ultimatum, and the impetus to embark on one last book – “warts and all”, as she says. Even in her dotage, Ruby.M Devereux has the power to surprise, because whatever this author does, she does on her own terms. Always.

Is Ruby finally about to reveal the secrets of her infamous life?

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Aria for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

Can I just start this review by saying this book is perfect. Absolutely, all-consuming, 100% perfection. Just everything about it. It was enticing and had me hooked from the very start to the very end.

It is a book within a book and Mandy has managed it so well that it just feels right, like it couldn’t have been written in any other way.

I adore Ruby. I adored her from the very first moment. She is 90, her own woman with her own voice, and she’s unapologetic about it. She felt like a ruder – maybe not ruder….blunter version of everyone’s beloved nan, and I am here for it!

For a woman who grew up throughout the 20th Century, especially in decades where women were meant to be subservient to men, Ruby stands up for herself. She knows what she likes and what she wants, and isn’t going to answer to any man. Which I know sounds a bit contradictory, considering that she often writes about the men from her past. But that’s okay too. Men are often applauded (throughout history) of having many notches on their bedpost, but women, even today, are often judged for the same. And this was just one reason why I loved her so passionately.

I know we are technically reading Ruby’s words, not Mandy’s, but whosever they are, they read like poetry, like silk off the page. It’s lyrical and poetic and beautiful.

It is like reading a memoir, but of a real person, and now I want to find out more about her, just like if Ruby was a real person and not just fictional, and I’m sad that I won’t get any more from her.

it was a lot more moving than I thought it would be. I don’t know what I was expecting, but Ruby Devereaux has been through some things, let me tell you. I often found myself tearing up, but not only at the sadder moments. I found it emotional in all ways, and I celebrated Ruby’s joys and mourned Ruby’s losses.

It’s really inspirational. Okay, so Ruby is this prolific, successful author with many books under he belt, whereas I have approximately zero under mine. But there was just something about Ruby and her passion for words and the way Mandy has created her, that has inspired me to get my notebook out again and start making sense of my scribbles.

I’m so sad I’ve finished it. It’s one of the most joyous reads I’ve had the pleasure to read. I’m not ready to leave Ruby, and whilst I rarely reread books nowadays, I could easily read this again and again, back to back. It is definitely going to be one of my most recommended books of 2024.