What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez: A Novel
Claire JimenezThe Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When 13‑year‑old middle child Ruthy disappeared without a trace from the local bus stop, it left the family scarred & scrambling. One night, 12 years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman with Ruthy's distinctive birthmark on her TV screen in a trashy reality show called Catfight. She rushes to call her younger sister, Nina. The woman's hair is dyed red, & she calls herself Ruby, but the birthmark under her right eye is recognizable. Could it be Ruthy, after all this time?
The years since Ruthy's disappearance haven't been easy on the Ramirez family. Their mother, Dolores, struggles with mental health, weight gain, & diabetes; Jessica juggles a newborn baby with her hospital job; & Nina, after 4 successful years at college, has returned home to medical school rejections & now works in the mall folding tiny, bedazzled thongs at the lingerie store.
After seeing maybe‑Ruthy on their screen, Jessica & Nina hatch a plan to drive up to Boston where the show is filmed in search of their long‑lost sister. When Dolores catches wind of their scheme, she insists on joining, along with her best friend, Irene. What follows is a family road trip & reckoning that will force the Ramirez women to finally face the past & look toward a future--with or without Ruthy in it. Told in multiple brash, distinctive voices, & filled with humor & truth, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez explores female familial bonds & cycles of generational violence, poverty, & silence in a world that allows little room for Brown women.
This is a vivid family portrait, in all its shattered reality, replete with snark, impatience, resentment, tenderness, & of course, love.
Claire Jiménez is a Puerto Rican writer who grew up in Brooklyn & Staten Island. Her short story collection Staten Island Stories received the 2019 Hornblower Award for a 1st book.