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About The Ruby Notebook
Available now!
Sixteen-year-old Zeeta and her flighty English-teaching mom, Layla, have traveled the world together, settling in a different country every year, making a whole new set of friends and adopting new customs. This year, they've chosen to live in Aix-en-Provence, France, an enchanting city full of fountains, creamy yellow light, and a fascinating group of scarlet-clad street performers.
Zeeta soon begins to receive mysterious notes and gifts from someone she calls her fantôme, or ghost. But she is expecting her boyfriend, Wendell - the love of her life, as her friends call him - to arrive in Aix for a summer program very soon. Zeeta brushes off her curiosity about her fantôme, and her simmering attraction to one of the street performers, Jean-Claude, until Wendell arrives and she begins to fear that her feelings for him have truly changed. Perhaps - like Layla - she's simply not made for long-term romance.
As Zeeta tries to draw away from Wendell, however, circumstances seem to force them together. Zeeta's friendship with a local antiques dealer and his reclusive artist friend leads to a dangerous adventure. When Zeeta and Wendell join forces to find a secret underground spring whose water is rumored to bring immortality, they are forced to reconsider their own desires, and their beliefs about true love. Yet as soon as Zeeta decides that her mind has cleared, she's confronted with the biggest shock of her life: the incredible true identity of her fantôme.
Vibrant, warmhearted, and evocative, The Ruby Notebook is a remarkable novel about learning to accept love in all of its wondrous and imperfect forms.
Ages 12 & up, Delacorte/Random House, ISBN #978-0-385-73653-4, hardcover available September 2010
Excerpt from The Ruby Notebook
It's true. There's something about the light here. It's hazy golden, as if it's moving through honey. I've seen all kinds of light. Wet green glow in the Amazonian jungle, squid luminescence in the Pacific, indigo dawns through a waterfall in the Andes. But this particular light - this southern French light glinting off my tiny espresso cup - this is something else.
My Inspiration for The Ruby Notebook
You can see my photos and read about my most recent trip to Aix to research The Ruby Notebook here.
Inspiration for the Notebooks series
Fellow author and Baltimorean Anne Tyler said that writing novels lets her live many alternate lives. I love this about writing. At some point in my twenties, I was faced with the choice of either endlessly moving from country to country teaching ESL-or settling somewhere. I chose the latter, promising myself I'd take short trips as often as possible and try to live abroad again for a year or so... but part of me wonders what my life would have been like as a permanent traveler. So I created Zeeta and Layla, who in some sense, represent conflicting parts of myself. Through them, I can (sort of) live out my alternate wandering life. When I proposed this project to my agent and editor, I was especially excited at the idea that travel was required for these books. At that time, my husband and I were planning to have our first child, so I knew my life would soon undergo a huge change. I wanted to make sure I had to take international "research trips," as a kind of protection against the possiblility that life with a baby would make me put my traveling-the-world passion on hold. Another benefit of doing a travel series is that I can incorporate what I learned for my Masters degree in cultural anthropology. (It's nice to feel that I didn't sweat over nine zillion journal articles for nothing...)
Reviews and Recognition
Children's Literature
Beautiful imagery and seamless inclusion of French words and phrases (complete with a pronunciation guide in the back) paint a perfectly believable setting. The second of Zeeta's adventures, this book stands easily on its own. Full of adventure, romance, mystery, and a bit of mysticism, this is an enchanting story perfect for Francophiles and those with wanderlust.
Colorado Book Award Finalist
STARRED Kirkus Review
Thoughtful, intense Zeeta and her free-spirited mother return in this follow-up to The Indigo Notebook (2009). Perennial travelers, the two have now settled in the atmospheric city of Aix-en-Provence. Zeeta eagerly anticipates the arrival of her boyfriend Wendell from Colorado, but when he changes the terms of his visit, Zeeta is hurt and confused. Their relationship is further strained by her involuntary attraction to Jean-Claude, a member of a street dance troupe. At the same time, Zeeta begins to discover strange notes and items left in her bag. Weaving bits of magic, city lore and bittersweet romance into each of the many plot lines, Resau has again crafted a complex and satisfying novel that is both a mystery and a tender, wise meditation on love and self-identity. Characters are rich and vibrant, each of them bringing their own past to bear on the story at hand. Readers will want to read the first before starting this one and will likely be clamoring for the third, the groundwork for which is nicely set up here. (Fiction. 12 & up)
School Library Journal
Anyone who enjoys detailed settings and thoughtful narratives will be rewarded with this story.
Booklist
Once again, Resau adds shimmering dimensions of magic realism; here, underground springs fabled to bestow immortality are an undercurrent to both the city and the story.
Online Reviews
I was totally caught off guard by how much this book sucked me in. The rich, vivid images of the French lifestyle pulled me into the world effortlessly. I admit I have not read The Indigo Notebook, but there was no trouble catching up to the story. And now I definitely want to go back and learn about Zeeta and Wendall some more! Other characters, like Vincent and his lovely pigeon Maude, were so much fun! I felt the troubles and personal struggles Zeeta went through were very rewarding in the end. Zeeta and her mother have a unique relationship with each other and life style that is sure to interest even the pickiest reader. Laura Resau has a sensual, moving style to her writing. The whole experience will leave readers enchantee.
Every page is filled with wonder and excitement in this fantastic tale of romance, mystery, and happiness. I have to say I was completely immersed in this YA novel, and a line that this author put forth will stay with me a long, long time, "... no matter what pain or agony, if we reach deep enough inside our souls, we can survive anything." A fantastic sentiment to concentrate on; I commend this author for her beautiful stories about life, and I recommend them highly to all readers.
An enjoyable read with beautiful detailed settings interwoven with a little bit of mystery and a touch of magic!
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