Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace

Touchstone Books is the publisher for this book. Joe Wallace has written several non-fiction books about baseball and some short stories, but this is his first novel. The words flow smoothly and the plot entices you and keeps you reading.

I asked for a copy because I used to play baseball as a girl. I also got put on the boy's team in a Catholic parochial school because I was too strong to play with the girls. (Grew up with boy cousins.) So the thought of a girl who was strong enough to pitch professional baseball sounded intriguing to me. Even more so when you know there really was a sixteen-year-old girl who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig - and then was banned from the sport because the game was too strenuous for women. Yeah, right...

The story is set in the twenties and you feel just like you stepped back into that era. All the problems that Ruby faces happened to other young men and women then. It was a time of sickness and death, displaced family members, desperate people, bootleggers, as well as baseball greats and folks who prospered.

Ruby loses most of her family and finds she's the only caretaker for her two nieces. However, she has no job skills and there is no money saved, so she must find something to do to support the children and feed them.

Her first attempt at a job is a miserable failure, and the only Ruby can do that is unusual is throw a ball hard and fast.

She matures quickly and bargains hard and begins to make a bit of money at the Coney Island side shows, but there is evil there, too.

If you'd like to find out how Ruby solves her problems and how she manages to keep her nieces safe (as they keep her safe, too), leave a comment here on my blog and send me an email with your name and address for mailing at info @ bookfaerie.com (take the spaces out). I'll pick a winner in about a week.