The Autumn of Ruth Winters Audiobook By Marshall Fine cover art

The Autumn of Ruth Winters

A Novel

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The Autumn of Ruth Winters

By: Marshall Fine
Narrated by: Joyce Bean
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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. Family Life Genre Fiction Women's Fiction Heartfelt

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
Relatable Storyline • Fascinating Character Development • Comforting Read • Engrossing Vocal Performance
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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.

What a Wonderful Novel

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I loved these characters, especially Ruth! The extent to which she changed from the beginning to the end was remarkable. I really enjoyed this book!!

Great story!

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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.

Surprisingly engrossing

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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..

A nice comforting read

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

Aging woman lives and loves

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

Recommend

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After some of the books I've read recently, this seemed very simplistic in language and in style. I thought it would be interesting to read about a woman of around my own age who had been reluctant to embrace change until circumstances interfered to change her. It did that, but not in as satisfying a way as it might have. If I had been hungry for a piece of bread and butter this would have been a cracker; both keep you from being hungry, but one is so much more satisfying than the other.

Too simplistic

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Tell me you’re from a dysfunctional family in a small town without telling me.

I saw one reviewer who had clutched her pearls and just wouldn’t finish the book. I get it.
But I can relate to so much in this story.
Thank you to the reviewer who mentioned how flat the narrator was in the beginning. That was kind of tough to get over that hump. Much more expressive and less clench jawed once the story warmed up.

I got all up in my “Feels” towards the end and was hiccup crying. (Glad I was home and not in public).
There are so many instances in this storyline that is so relatable to me that I did not expect.

Hug the ones you love.
Reach out to those you’ve lost touch with.
Leave a legacy of some sort.

Relatable

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This was a pleasant slice of life story without too much conflict. It had well-developed characters and a nice pace. The performance was a little over-the-top at times, but it did make it easy to keep the characters straight.

Pleasant Slice of Life

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Narrator had no affect Drones on and on Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop

Too much retrospective

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