Sugarcane Saint: The First Book of Ruth (The Ruth Trilogy, #1)

Born in 1912 beneath the shadow of the mystical Stone Mountain to a middle-class Georgia farm family, Ruth Shurlington is an unremarkable, though imaginative child who idolizes her father and is mesmerized by the lives of her four older sisters. Evangelical faith and southern tradition guide Ruth and her family through the uncertainties of changing times until the untimely death of their beloved patriarch causes their world to crumble.

In the aftermath of her father's death, Ruth navigates her servant-like role in a family divided between their failing rural farm and the encroaching urban landscape of nearby Atlanta. When Quillan Johnson, Ruth's childhood friend and the son of the local preacher proposes marriage, Ruth is certain her life is on the right path. The perfect circle of Biblical womanhood that she has revered in her sisters is on the verge of opening to her. But a chance encounter with Leonidas Brantley, a dangerously charming migrant worker ignites Ruth's darker curiosity. Through a series of tragic events, she is left unprotected- prey to the wolf that hunts her. On one fatal Sunday afternoon, she sets in motion a savage cycle of violence that prowls through four generations.

Set in the segregated American South and spanning fifty years of American history, the Book of Ruth trilogy begins with Sugar Cane Saint and lays out in brutal honesty how deeply our road is defined by the family to which we are born. As Ruth's story unravels in harrowing detail, a vivid comparison between a benign and abusive patriarchy reveals a startling thin line between the two. It is a story that explores how violence breeds further violence, leaving the next generation to navigate its painful legacy.