The Oprah Book Club ended four years ago when her official daytime show off the air. Her recommendations assisted authors in selling over 55 million copies since 1996. There is good news, Oprah Picks are now back and its time to discover some great new reads.
The first author to gain Oprah’s seal of approval is Cynthia Bond. She is an actress by trade and has been teaching writing to homeless and at-risk youth throughout Los Angeles for more than fifteen years. A writer whose “unflinching yet lyrical prose” O Magazine recently compared to Toni Morrison, Bond might just have penned the breakout novel of the year with Ruby, a period drama set in rural Texas.
Ruby tells the epic story of a man determined to protect the woman he loves from the town desperate to destroy her. Utterly transfixing, with unforgettable characters, riveting suspense, and breathtaking, luminous prose, Ruby offers an unflinching portrait of man’s dark acts and the promise of the redemptive power of love.
“When I found out that Bond is 53 and hadn’t written a book before, I thought, Wow. This woman was born to write. There’s no other explanation for such a vivid, searing first-time novel that penetrates through the page to the reader’s heart. Writing is Bond’s calling. No question about it. And when I found out that she’s spent more than 15 years teaching writing to homeless and at-risk youth, I knew she must be truly special. I couldn’t wait to call and tell her that Ruby is our new OBC 2.0 pick.” said Oprah.
The novel will be out in paperback on Tuesday, with a printing of 250,000 copies. The hardcover currently has 20,000 copies in print, according to Hogarth, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and is available as an e-book.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.